Lost but not Damned
by Samir-Duran
Summary: John Shepard was not the only spectre who got to chase Saren and his geth. His elder collegue formed a similar team and tried to help him. This is their story. Drama, action, humor and romance. Everyday life. Bad Summary.
1. Launch Chapter

Author's Note:

It was long after I launched my last side project, so with ME 2 out I wanted my Triumvirate which previously existed only on my deviantart account, to surface in a fanfiction. Please, enjoy.

'Lost but not Damned'

Launch chapter

The dusk was slowly setting as they cocked their guns and checked their barrier generators. The Turian Spectre watched the crowds below. Now, that the dreadful sun was slowly hiding on the other side of the planet, people started opening their crams, shops stalls and other earthly good's centres. There was even a slavers tent with lots of cages.

''Are you sure the target will arrive today?''

The other one, a human male in his thirties asked. The Spectre turned it's polarized helmet's visor towards him and nodded.

''My intel rarely fails me, Sinead. She will go to that brothel like she always does. Then Katarzyna will start a fight with her bodyguards and during it, I'll shoot her. Simple plan.''

The human smirked. It would look rather spooky for a man, to see him smiling with a large scar running through his left cheek and lips, but to the Spectre, Humans looked mostly the same. Sure, he could recognise faces, but he always thought of them to be dull and simmilar. Likewise, most humans did the same with Turians.

'' It's so simple that you've been repeating it over and over for the past ten days. Remember, that without me, you'll need to find a quick getaway yourself.''

'' I'm counting on you, Sinead.''

The plan was really simple, but carrying him out was more complicated. They waited on this planet for ten days, scouting the areas both in blazing sun and freezing moon. The assassination was delayed as they've checked al current whereabouts on the target. A young Battarian female which had the ambition to flood citadel space with a new strain of drugs based on the red sand's effects, but with a much more addictive factor.

The Spectre got to the case and, as always, called for his best operatives. As he explained, with first human SPECTRE, the humanity secured it's place in galaxy's order. He was so curious about the younger collegue, that now he even followed Commander Shepard's example and mobilized his own team, ship, crew, and adapted to his style of waging war. A truly weird act for a spectre, not to mention that it was strange for just Turians. Maybe it was that, that the best Turian spectre became the most wanted criminal in the galaxy? Rumours spreaded fast on the extranet. Even here.

The time was right, and so everyone took their positions. Katarzyna, the blonde musclehead, was waiting at the entrance to the exclusive night-club-brothel and was playing drunk. Grey Ghost, the Spectre, took his position on the bell tower that once belonged to human's church, but now, after Batarians took the colony over, was badly damaged and unused. He saw Katarzyna through his scope and he smiled to himself. The two humans were supposed to be like pupils for him and future candidates as human Spectres, but as far as now, only she of the two was interested.

He couldn't see the other human from his position. Sinead was a good addition to the team, but he was now more used to commanding his spaceship than to field action. Still, he proved to be skilfull enough for spectre's needs of combat power. For this mission, he had the least difficult task, to hijack a vechicle for them to escape and pick up Katarzyna and Grey Ghost. There was still an hour or so for the target's estimated arrival, but Sinead was supposed to have a car by then.

Sinead walked down the street with his boots dirty from the sandy dust that covered almost everything on this planet. He got pass the square market and was about to move into one of the backalleys, when he encountered a bigger mass of people. Here was the slavers's tent and their ''showcases''. He wasn't new to this custom as he often visited the Terminus's Systems. Batarians took pride in slavery.

Someone has put an auction for one of the slaves and people were shouting out their bids. He decided not to look on those poor beings and headed for the alley, when he heard a gentle, somewhat metallic sob. Somehow, the metallic tint sounded familiar to him. He searched for the cries's source and he found himself in front of a cage with a small creature.

It was no doubt now, that he saw her. She was a young Quarian female, maybe seventeen by the standards. She wore a black-red-white envirosuit with her visor tinted with the darkest colour. The glass had cracks and the girl was trembling and coughing. And crying.

There was a remembrance. A Quarian face, without a mask. Friend's last words and a faint smile. Tears. They took over when he tapped the metal bar of her prison and whispered loudly to her.

''Hey! How long have you been without filters?''

She looked at him, surprised with his care in his voice. She remained curled on the other side of the cage, but she whispered back to him.

''Three days.''

Her voice was weak and she let out a quiet cough.

'' How did this happen?''

''The slavers broke my mask when I tried to escape.''

He gritted his teeth.

''Do you want to live?''

He asked her seriously.

'' Yes. For Keelah's sake.''

''Will you come with me? I'll get you out of here.''

''Really?''

He just nodded and shouted to the Batarian slaver:

''How much is it for this Quarian!?''

The slaver looked back at him with confusion in his eyes. He had a vicious stare and he grinned in a stingy way.

Racist.

''Ten thousand!''

''Deal!''

Then another Batarian raised his hand.

''Eleven thousand!''

Before the slaver was able to acknowledge the new bidder, he heard a scream. Sinead was standing there with a barrel of his pistol still smoking. The batarian bidder layed down and screamed when he realized that his left knee practically ceased to exist. Sinead's face showed no emotions when he hid the gun and pointed his finger at the slaver saying:

''Ten thousand!''

''Sold!''

The slaver said with a little frustration. He then invited the client into his tent and ordered his guards to bring the slave to them.

The tent was crampy and damp. It smelled of sweat and blood and was in a state of complete mess. Sinead stood before the slaver and spoke calmly.

''You should cut the price. She has been without her filters for long enough to die soon. A reasonable discount, I think.''

''Ten thousand and no less. if you don't have the money, you shouldn't have bartered then.''

Then one of the guards entered the room. The tall Turian was pushing the coughing Quarian in front of him with a stun-stick. The batarian waved a remote in front of Sineads face.

'' So? Two-eyes? Take ior leave it.''

Sinead grinned and walked to the Quarian. He pushed her down to the ground with enough force for her to lay flat.

''Stay down!''

He hissed through his teeth and raised. The batarian chuckled atthe sight of force-presentation.

''Too bad this was your last transaction, mate.''

She looked up. Everything was like in slow motion. Her savior stood in a position to have the guard on his left and the slaver on his right. He then raised two silenced pistols, one in each hand and let out two almost simultanous shots. The batarian got shot in the chest before he was able to scream. The Turian guard got hit on the head. The projectile went through his visor, shattered it to bits and cracked his skull.

She got up on her knees. The human walked over to the batarian and fired once on his head. Everything was done quickly and without loud sounds. Before helping her up he quikly hid the batarian and his guard behind the desk. He reached out to her when he finally came to her. She let out a loud cough. If he could see her face, she would smile at him. She just said a thank you instead.

He struggled to get her into a car after he finally found one. She gave into a fever and was starting to have ravings. He quickly administered her with medigel through special socket he found on her suit's chest section and using her suit systems he lowered her temperature to beat off the fever. Then he heard a loud voice in his comm-link:

''Sinead! Where the hell are you? The target is really close and you're not in position!''

It was Grey Ghost. And he was pissed.

''I'm on it. Trust me, I'll get into position when it's time.''

He said nervously and checked the status on her suit's environment. She was smart enough before she got sick to isolate the other sections to prevent further environmental contamination.

''Hang in there girl. I'll get you out of here.''

And here he was. Rescuing a total stranger to him. Maybe it was becouse of his past? She reminded _Him_ a lot and he knew how fragile quarians were. His first aid was just a temporary solution. Her body was weaker with every minute and he needed to act fast.

The fight started by Katarzyna wasn't meant to last this long. The turian bodyguards proved to be more hardy than she ever expected and they were now taking turns in fighting with her, to their boss's amusement. When she got a little time she ordered Ghost to shoot but he delayed the order. He didn't have a clear shot. When the boss raised her pistol to end the nuisance, she heard Sinead's voice:

''Out'ta the way!''

Katarzyna saw three flashlight of the approaching vechicle and jumped aside. The last thing she saw before getting up was the female batarian's terrified expression as her head cracked on the front of the car's windshield. Katarzyna jumped into the vechicle as quickly as possible for her and yelled at Sinead:

''Hit it!''

Soon Grey Ghost joined them. He was very surprised at their unexpected passenger.

''A sick Quarian? You have got to be kidding me boy. How could you endanger the mission like that?!''

''Just shut up! You'll spank me later, now signal the _Flotilla's Pride _to prepare for us. Tell Golun to prepare a sterile laboratory for a Quarian patient.''

Ghost went silent and soon he forwarded the message. The prusuit wasn't orgaized as soon as he had predicted, but Sinead was still driving like crazy. Katarzyna was examining the Quarian ex-slave when they left the town.

''She just repeats _Keelah selai _all the time.''

''She's got an infection and runs a fever. She won't last long if the shuttle won't hurry.''

Ghost commented, now concerned with the life that was slowly fading. Sinead slowed down at the extraxtion point and they waited for the shuttle.

*****

The salarian doctor dressed in an envirosuit quickly pushed the trolley with the Quarian into his laboratory. Sinead remained outside to watch the room from behind a glass window. The spectre joined him soon and watched in silence.

''I know you still mourn Rodo's death Sinead, but I can't justify your actions. Yes, you saved her and it's a good deed, but you endangered the mission.''

''Haven't you lost a friend, Ghost? Ever? You don't have anyone. Rodo's was my only friend when I was bad. He treated me like family.''

'' That's not the point! Save your mourns and sentiments for after a mission! Let go of your past and concentrate on here and now!''

Sinead clutched his fists. If not for the hiss of door and a newcomer's arrival, he would definitevaly beaten the turian. The newcomer was an Asari in her young decades. She had a bright blue skin with black tattoos on it. Her face was emotionless, but her voice showed concern. She wore white and black camouflaged light armour.

''You won't understand Sinead's feelings, Ghost. You don't have the abbilities, nor empathy levels, nor upbringing to walk in his shoes. I shared his grief and I know the bond he had with Rodo was as strong as your bond with duty. You can't blame him for trying to protect this memory by saving somebody who reminds him of his best friend.''

The turian lowered his head in thought.

''You're right, Shara. I don't possibly have the means to understand this. If it's that important to you Sinead, then I appologize. See you later. Inform me on the Quarian's status after Golun finishes.''

He bowed and left.

The Asari leaned to the human and watched the operation. The word ''operation'' was a little exaggerated becouse the Quarian wasn't cut in any way, but the doctor had to remove some portions of her suit in order to examine her. The face wasn't visible to them, but the mask and helmet layed in an antiseptic.

''You know, as her savior, you could help them if you'd dressed appropriately.''

She said comfortingly.

''I'll leave it to doc. He'll hold the doctor-patient confidentiality policy. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to see her face.''

''Why?''

''Rodo's said to me once, that it would be the Quarian's ultimate sign of trust to show someone alien his true face. I want to uphold the Flotilla's customs to her.''

''I see.''

They sat there and watched the series of injections that the doctor made.

Soon he got out and started to wash his hands curiously. He was old for a Salarian and it showed that the fight for the Quarian girl's life was one of his toughest ones he ever battled. They opened a comm to him and spoke to him outside of the room.

''How is she, doc?''

''Not bad for a Quarian with so many infections. She'll live but I'll keep her sleeping to the point when she'll completely recovers. I regret that I didn't have any Quarian blood to bolster the treatment. A full rerun of the bloodstream would have helped her more than antibiotics and other drugs.''

He talked much, but, for a Salarian, very slowly. Sinead let out a sigh and smiled.

''Thanks doc. I owe you a drink.''

The doctor looked scared, and ran out. Yet soon he emerged from the laboratory carring the Quarian's helmet. He gave it to Sinead.

''If she's to function.. well... normally, you must find a replacement and bring it to me for disinfection. I've seen a broken helmet but with intact mask in your room once, it should do. The rest, won't. Try if it fits, if yes, bring it here.''

He gone back into his laboratory and left the two mercenaries alone.

''Rodo can help one life bloom, Sinead. You should give her his mask. It will be painful at first, to see it on someone else than him, but you'll be proud.''

''Yeah. I know Shara. I'll think it over.''

**Well, this**** is it for the launch chapter. Wonder if people will like it. Remember, I'm not a native speaker and I love well written commentaries, reviews and critiques.**


	2. The Awakening

**So here starts the mainstream story. Some may find the switch between the main character a bit confusing, but I think it's quite plain and easy to getting used to. As you probably noticed, the story goes in a sideroad with the original Mass Effect storyline. I plan to influance the characters with the actual story plot and this chapter itself will serve as introducing ground for the main characters. Good reading.**

**Chapter I - The Awakening**

_Keelah. Why is it so cold here? __The heating systems must've shut down. I see great whiteness. My eyes must've been damaged by the infection. Is this afterlife? I feel rather good..._

_A cough._

_So I'm still alive. Not a great deal, since my suit failed utterly. The agony will only start from here. Mother. I'm sorry I've failed you. I always think of you when I touch my heart through my suit. I don't want to die. I can't stop but crying._

_What is this? A shadow emerges. Is it death? It grabs me on my shoulders. Ouch! My shoulders hurt and the skin is so sensitive. Skin?!_

Doctor Golun screamed through the speaker of his envirosuit as his patient jumped up and started to look around her body with furious curiosity.

''For the sake of everything sacred! Don't scare me like that or I'll get a heart attack!''

The quarian was a bit confused when she heard him. She looked at him with fear and panic in her eyes.

''Where's my suit!? I'll die without it!''

The doctor curled in himself at her yelling.

''Please calm down! Everything's fine! You're in sterile conditions and your suit was badly damaged. Our engineer works on repairing it. To that time you need to remain here. Besides, you're still sick from your infections. You must wait till you recover.''

She looked shaken now. She couldn't remember well.

''I'm confused. Who are you?''

Doctor Golun stood up and took his datapad in his left hand. She looked at him, still being blinded from the bright light and white sterile walls not being obscured by her visor. He came closer, so she could see his face clearly. Under his transparent veil that was an evirosuit, he wore a black lab coat with white front. His head belonged to an old salarian individual, with many wrinkles and faded blue-greenish skin tone. His large eyes looked sympathetic to her.

''I'm doctor Golun Dras. You were brought to me four standard days ago for treatment. You were lucky most of the infections you cought on that planet were mild.''

''Four days? Keelah! I was sleeping for four days?''

''Yes. Your savior was quite curious about your state so I put you in a temporal stasis. He didn't want to see you without your mask, but he provided me with all necesarry treatments for you. He said it was the matter of your privacy.''

''My savior?''

She couldn't quite get his face and had problems recalling her meeting with him. She remembered a gentle face with a large scar and two silenced pistols. There was death, but it didn't terrify her.

Golun walked up to her and typed something on his datapad. Then he gave it to the patient.

The first sensation wasn't the sight of her savior on the photo, but the strange feeling of sensing cold plastic against her skin. It was so bizzare and joyful that it almost frightened her. Up to now, she didn't ever removed her suit. Heck, the suits were even designed in a way so hygienic measures were provided by it too.

Then she loked at the face of her savior.

_Running away. She ran behind a corner. Grasp on the slaver remote. The weigh of metal collar on her neck. Fear. Shouts. The doors so close to her. Throbbing pain in the back. Hard landing on the ground. The sound of breaking glass. Panic. Nightmares. Ravings and hunger._

_A gentle face. Snake-like scar and worry in his voice. Shot. Shot. Screams of a batarian. Turian. Pain in the back. Electrical shocks. Again the gentle face. Force. Hitting the ground. Two whispered shots and two silent deaths._

_Whiteness._

He was a human male looking to be in his thirties with a large scar that run from the base of his left ear throughout his cheek and lips and ended on his chin. He wore a rough goatee, a facial feature unfamiliar with guarian physiology, and had short cut black hair. It striked her. Quarians had their hair cut short for the means of plain comfort within their helmets. She, as many other females, wore a loose sheet on the helmet to imitate hair. She couldn't understand why would he want to cut his hair if he was free to have them long.

She looked closely into his face. By studying it she realised he had sad, green eyes. They intrigued her to the point she became curious, what made them look so sad.

The doctor took the datapad from her. She reluctantly gave it away. Now, that she was calm, she started looking around her. To her surprise, the salarian doctor remained quiet all that time, just observing her dully with the datapad pressed to his torso.

The room was steril-white and had not much features. The bed-troley she was lying on was situated in the middle of the room and she was covered with white sheet. There was a white pillow situated in the head section. The walls didn't show any decorative features and there was a window showing the outer corridor. On the wall that the doors to the room where on there was also a big screen showing lots of stars, so she deduced that she had left the planet. By the wall with the window there was a desk with a computer terminal and a stool.

_The crowded decks of Idenna. Her family living area. Three mattresses and a table. White and green sheets on the entrance. One omnitool access port. No windows._

Now she looked again at the doctor who was studying her face. She felt a little embarrassed and tilted her head down.

''I'm sorry for making you feel awkward. It just intrigued me that human and quarian facial features are so simmilar yet so different. Don't understand me wrong, there are lots of media on the extranet showing unmasked Quarian and I've studied your species at university but still, a living example of unmasked quarian is... remarkable. Yet I ensure you that none of your personal matters will leave this room. Doctor-patient confidentiality policy.''

_The wandering doctor. Quarian with white robes on his envirosuit. Scan of systems, taking blood samples. Reports to the captain._

She got confused all the more with his explaining but she tried to focus.

''How long will it take for the engineer to give me back my suit?''

''I'm not sure. I think that at longest, it will take another week. He has gotten all into it as a challenge and he doesn't want to fail at any aspect since he need to fully rebuild the neck and head sections to refit them with the new mask...''

''New mask!?''

She inturrupted him. The salarian looked confused, as if for a moment he lost track of what he was saying a moment ago.

''Um, yes? We don't have the technology and resources to manufacture a new visor for your broken mask, so we try to incorporate another, previously acquired one.''

''Okay, I was just affraid of something.''

_The day she left the bubble. Her father handing her a grey coloured wrapping. Her mother sheding tears of joy. Father's sigh of joy when she put on the suit and stepped out of the bubble._

_Her first colour change. Right before she left the flotilla. The captain being really proud of the younglings he was sending away on their pilgrimages._

The doctor walked to the computer terminal and opened the laptop. The holographic screen turned bright orange and displayed the startup logo. He then turned to her and said:

''For the time being, before you get your suit back, this will be your room. This is a temporary situation as I require this room for more advanced studies. Once you become able to, you will have to relocate. To that time, make yourself at home. The windows are put on venetian mirror status, that means that you can see the people outside but they can't see you here. The terminal here is up to your usage. It has a link to extranet so for most time you won't get bored. If you need me, I'll be in the vincinity of the laboratory's intercom. You can find it on the right of the door. Note, that before I enter here, I must dress like this and decontaminate so don't expect immediate responses from me. Do you understand?''

He ended his meticulous tyrade and watched her curiously. She nodded and he bowed to her.

''I have other duties, so please excuse me.''

He turned away and opened the door to the decontamination chamber when she asked him hurriedly:

''What will become of me? Will I be free?''

''It's in your savior's hands, your fate that is. Don't worry about your wellbeing for now. It was captain Sinead's idea to grant you with a terminal. I'll see to you later. Ill have something prepared for you for your first meal aboard this ship.''

''What is her name?''

''Flotilla's Pride. See you later, young miss quarian.''

He gave her a bright smile and walked away having the doors slide behind him.

She was left alone and the room almost echoed her breathing. She didn't even introduced herself properly and the doctor was so kind to her. As to now, nobody was ever so nice to her. She had lots of food to thought over. The ship's name gave her a little hope. Captain Sinead's name was strange for a quarian, but also having an alien crew on a quarian ship was strange to her. And that human who saved her. He looked really interesting as a person and yet, she still had to wait to thank him properly.

Her tummy roared. The doctor's words about food made her remind herself, that she didn't eat properly since she got captured on her escape attempt. If she calculated properly, that would be almost a standard week without proper meal, not counting the exception of little nutrient paste she ate during the three days she waited for rescue. that still left her with four days of no eating when she lied unconscious on the bed.

So then she quickly stood up and walked towards the laptop. She felt a pleasent cold. First, when her bare feet touched the floor. The feeling was almost sexual to her, as it made all of her body tingle with pleasure. It was really new to her and she stopped for a moment after it. She didn't know a true touch, just a feeling of pressure through a envirosuit.

_Two years ago. Hur'Iel nar Idenna hugged her. Her first intimate contact with another. She loved the feeling of pressure against her waist but felt awkward with it. She said goodbye to him when he left for his pilgrimage year and a half ago._

Can it be this good? It almost made her sad, that soon she'll have to return to the suit. On the other hand, the sensations felt intoxicating and made her feel insecure. She even wondered if the ancestors felt the same when they walked the surface of Quarian worlds.

The second wierd thing was, that when she got up and left the sheets on the bed, she realised she was totally naked. She didn't mind the doctor as he didn't seem a pervert to her, but the very thought of being totally naked made her uneasy.

_She took off the back portion of her helmet and allowed her mother to cut her hair short. After getting out of the bubble she wasn't allowed to take off more._

She quickly wrapped herself with the sheets like a toga and went to the terminal. Here she discovered a long hospital shirt coloured in green and she undressed again only to put it on in annoyance. The shirt was long to her knees and had short sleeves. It was definitevaly intended for a human as it was much too big for her.

She quickly got the laptop to her and returned o the bed. She covered herself with sheets again just to warm her legs up and she begin toying with the terminal. Firstly, she got up the register and tried to enter the inner files of the ship, but appart from a certain logo with three diamond shapes connected by a circle, she didn't gain any access. She didn't try hard as to not offend her savior. She checked the desktop for any usefull data, but it was just a ''blank'' terminal with just the basic of basic programs.

_Her first works with the ship's interface. She mixed up some connections and set up a firewall in the wrong section. She eventually got better with basic programming but it was hard to her._

She then entered the extranet. At first she tried to find something about the ship, but the search gave up nothing useless besides a link to one of the episodes of _Fleet and the Flotilla _and some irrelevant encyclopedical data on the Quarian's Migrant Fleet.It annoyed her a little. She couldn't find anything useful to her and the idea of using the teminal just for fun was obscure for her. The real equivalent of the holo-vision to her was the storyteller's nights once a week, although some programmes seen right before she got into trouble appealed to her. Especialy the human driven ones about two teams competing to create a functional vechicle out of junk.

It was so strange for her to be in this room. She still felt sick as she coughed multiple times, but she realized they weren't so painful as the last ones she remembered. The doctor remained in her memory as well as the picture of her savior.

He killed the ones that enslaved her, but still they were in terminus systems. Slavery here was legal and he could posibbly wanted to steal her for himself. Still, the care that he had in his voice when he asked her about her health was confusing at most. The way he handled with her enslavers was also suspicious. She didn't see anyone handle guns like him, and she remembered that with three guns he was armed to teeth. He was definitevaly a warrior, but she didn't know if he was the noble knight or the brute barbarian type. Yet he removed the collar which the slavers got her to wear. She was lucky enough, other slaves had limiters installed in their skulls. She felt silent as she turned back to extranet and looked for some more information. She couldn't find anything.

*****

The doctor arrived back after two hours. He carried a large tray covered by a hermetic dome with some plates on it and one glass. Her eyes widened. She didn't eat anything like that before. The doctor smiled at her reaction and placed the tray on her desk before removing the dome and inviting her to sit down and eat. His smile was really sincere and reassuring. She slowly got up leaving the laptop back on the bed and walked towards him in silence. The doctor could see a picture of Migrant Fleet on the display.

The young Quarian bowed to him and looked at him with her head tilted downwards. She was looking like if she wanted to ask him about something but was too shy. Plus the gorgeous smell of the meal was discouraging.

''Please, sit down and eat. After you have it finished I will answer to all your troubling questions. For today you have specially cooked and refined turian quisine. According to the guides, the palaven headcrab soup is delicious. If it weren't for my different set of DNA, I would most likely, how do humans state it, 'chew on' to it.''

She felt a little reassured and sat in front of the dishes. The smell of the aforementioned soup was delicious but she saw a some sort of a cutlet with palaven yarns and some souce on the other other plate. For the glass, the doctor opened a plastic bottle containing mineral water.

''The chef appologizes for not having any tastes for the water that would be based on dextro-aminous ingredients so you have to resort to basic mineral water. I double checked it for any bacteria, so don't worry.''

She looked at his hand when he poured the life-giving fluid into the glass. She didn't know about salarian customs, but he seemed unnaturally graceful and elegant with all his gestures.

She looked confused at the spoon and other utensils. She didn't see them before now. Not used at least, as most restaurants and bars had something like that in their logos.

''Ah! My bad! I forgot that you quarians use the tube ingested nutrients. It's obvious you wouldn't know how to use the utensils!''

She was quite surprised by his observation skills. That's salarian scientist for you, she thought. Soon he got the spoon in his hand and showed her how to scoop the soup. It was hard at first, but she learned fast and soon the soup was gone. The taste of the soup was out of this world. It tasted a bit metallic, but it was beyond her imagination to describe the taste thoroughly. The doctor only smiled sincerely as he watched her. Like a parent observing it's child doing something for the first time on it's own.

Nextly was the lesson of using a a fork and a knife. She had problems when he introduced her to handling the fork in her left hand, but soon she adjusted mirroring the moves in opposite hands. The second meal had the same mystery to it's taste as the first one, but she found it extremely different. The doctor didn't said what it was made from, but it tasted so delishously that she melted with joy.

After the meal was finished, the doctor left the three quarters full bottle on the table and sat on her bed besides the laptop. He then opened his datapad and looked curiously at his patient.

''I can answer all your questions now, young miss. Tell me, what makes you uneasy?''

She stood in front of him but after she let out a loud cough he ordered her to sit back with the gesture of his hand. She took back her place and looked at him with uneasy stare.

''First of all, I wanted to thank you for your care. I must do the same with my savior as soon as possible. The second thing, you gave me your name, so I would like to introduce myself.''

He noded with a smile and clicked something on his datapad not averting his gaze from her. She stood and bowed bfore him saying:

''I am Kala'Rai nar Idenna. Nice too meet you.''

''Dito here. So tell me, Kala'Rai, what troubles you?''

''I think I'm just affraid. You showed your care, and I appreciate it, but I feel trapped in here.''

''It's only natural. I'm not certain how you got into the hands of your enslavers, but you were mistreated and held in a tight cage, as your savior explained to me. You know we're in the terminus systems and you are affraid that you just got from one scumbag to another. I don't blame you, as I would thought the same in your position. I know it's hard for you to trust me as you are kept here as in some sort of prison. I can just reasure you, that we aren't slavers and we won't treat you bad. When we finish the repairs to your suit, you are free to go. That's what captain Sinead told me at least. And, if you wish to go for a walk, I can find you a temporary replacement suit much like my own, but I won't let you go anywhere without escort. Not that I don't trust you, a quarian without it's protective suit would not be a real challenge on a freighter such a this one. It's to ensure your safety.''

She quietly processed his words. So much data in one outburst. So he wants to let her out? That seemed nice to her.

''Is it possible to find a replacement with polarized faceshield?''

She asked without certainty in her voice. He smiled again.

''We have some of our space suits for maintenance with golden visors. I can issue you a turian one. It will be a little too big, but we can use some rubber strings to make it up for it. I can decontaminate one fully for you in a matter of a standard hour. How about that?''

''I would be obliged.''

*****

The walk around the shp was quite fascinating. Even if

the ship had a Quarian layout, there were none of her brethren to be seen. She considered for the first time, that captain Sinead wasn't really a Quarian and that, despite Golun's reasurance, they may be crooks.

When they left the medical ward she has seen lots of Turians, more humans clad in both armor or casual clothings, and sometimes even a salarian. She didn't count but there was at least forty crewmates and she saw more.

The doctor first introduced her to a female human wearing a red camouflage heavy armor and a wave of straight and blonde hair. Her face wore many little moles which made it look cute despite the overall tomboyish aura od the person. She had deep blue eyes that stared at her veiled visage with a mixture of great confidence and the knowledge of combat superiority.

''Kala'Rai, meet our chief of security and the leader of turian division, Kathrine Smith. Chief, meet our quarian guest.''

The blond stood up and bowed to the quarian just momets before standing up to the fragile doctor.

''Kurwa! For the last time! Don't use the translator to pronounce my name for you, or at least get adecent one! It's Katarzyna Kowalska!''

The first word. Kala was certain that it was a swearing word but she didn't hear someone using a word that had such power to it before. This Katarzyna person was really scary. She decided to never mispronounce her name, even if it contained hard sounds. The doctor looked miserable trying to cover his face from her shouts. She wanted to take the attention off of him.

''N- Nice to meet you, miss Catashina...''

Keelah! She mispronounced it.

To her surprise, the human woman smiled broadly. She wrapped her arm around Kala's shoulders and laughed.

''Good try, practice it more.''

''O-Okay...''

'' Don't worry! You're welcomed here. Siny saw something in you, methinks, so me and my subordinates will cope with that. How's the health? You looked pretty bad when I saw you for the first time.''

''Thank you. Im still coughing but the doctor says I'll be fine.''

She pointed at Golun who raised his finger in a protest to Katarzyna's friendly gesture.

''I advise you to not let yourself too friendly like that! It can lead to perforation or worse, riping the suit apart and most likely...''

''Hey doc!''

One turian yelled to him sitting besides a desk at the monitoring section.

''Eh!? Yes? What is it?''

''Catch!''

Kala'Rai observed as the turian threw a red fruit picked up from Katarzynas desk. It splaterred on the scientist's torso.

''Ack! No! Germs! Dirt! Bacterias!''

The salarian looked so terrified, that the quarian couldn't take this as a mocking of her immune system. At first the doctor tried to brush it from his chest, but as he realized it got onto his hands he screamed like a terrified child:

''Disinfectant! Disinfectant!''

He quickly ran down the corridor and forgot about his patient.

''Hey doc! I'll take care of her!''

The blonde laughed and showed a thumbs up to the Turian, which he mirrored with his hand. Kala noticed that he had violet facial tattoos and a metal plate in place of his upper ridge.

''Thanks Chronus! I owe you one.''

''No problem boss.''

''Kala, this is Chronus, my second in command and the best covert ops specialist on this side of the traverse.''

''Nice to meet you Kala. I hope you like our ship and it lets you feel almost like at home.''

He waved to her givng out the Turian equivalent of a smile.

Chronus had a mild reverbating voice like most turians, but there was something gentle in it. Kala liked it and he seemed nice to her.

''Same here. Yes, it's design looks pretty familiar to our oldest ships, but yet everything looks so big.''

''That's the manufactrers curtesy. Quarians are typically smaller than humans, and a natural ceiling height for a quarian would match the humans in height. Instead, he used standard citadel measurements adjusted to Quarian architecture. Thus, even a krogan could easily fit in the corridors.''

''So the manufacturer was a quarian?''

She asked out of curiosity.

''Sort of. He wantd to give this ship to fleet and it to house a big amount of quarians. Thus some of it's designs are derived from a luxury line cruiser. As of now we have exactly 86 crewmembers and one special guest.''

He made the last two words sound flattering. She blushed under her mask and went silent.

''Okay, enough of it, butter-cheeks! I'll give the girl a tour and you should get back to work.''

She scolded him. He just tilted his head to the left side, as if in surprise.

''Sure thing boss. I'm on it. Bye, Kala.''

*****

The next stop was at the mess hall. It was long, again showing off Quarian designs. At the very end of the long table, lied the kitchen segment. Here, one turian and one human in a buffy white hat and a funny looking appron wearing the sign 'kiss the cook' stood and were busy with their work.

''Hey chief! I've brought you someone grateful!''

It was true, they ended up here only becouse Kala wanted to thank the cheff for the best meal in her entire life.

''I wanted to thank you for the meal. It was delicious.''

The cheff scratched the back of his head in confusion.

''You must be that quarian that Sinead and doc were talking about. Well thank you for your appreciation, but most of the work was done by this guy over there.'' He pointed at the turian who was looking too busy to notice the newcomers. ''Crunchy cooks everything for those damned turians, so he cooked it for you. I Just purified the ingredients. The name's Cookie, by the way.''

He extended a hand to her. Kala shook it, mimicking one of the human gestures she discovered after going on her pilgrimage. Then Katarzyna called the turian named Crunchy. He didn't respond but still Kala was smirking under her veil to the names they had. Obviously, they were nicknames, but she liked them.

Then something horrible happened. Katarzyna grabbed a knife and threw it at the turian. The cheff and quarian stood there in shock as they watched the knife flew in the alien's direction. It went through a wooden cutboard beside his head and springed. The turian just grabed it and used it to cut a red tubular vegetable on his own cutboard.

''You're getting worse, Kathy. In the younger days you could kill a fly with a knife twice the size of this one.''

He said as he turned to them and smiled at Kala. His voice was really old, he could easily have fought against humans in the First Contact War. His face was blank, with no facial tattoos and his plate-scales were derived of all shinyness. He was old, even for a turian.

''Glad you liked it. When I'll get proper ingredients, I'll make you some better food. Damned be the terminus system and batarian traders.''

The conversation didn't last long, as Kala wanted to see the one responsible for her suit and, as he was an engineer, it would let her see to the engines, which were always the indicator of ship's wellness.

She was overwhelmed by the sight of the engines. The large room contained a big eezo core, which looked to her more like if it was even too big for a freighter able to sustain such big crew. The engines themselves weren't that enormous, but the ship had them in multiple number. More than half of the engines weren't working at the time. Katarzyna laughed at the young quarian's state of awe and pushed her further down the engineering deck.

There was a strange thing here going on. She saw technicians all around, mostly human, but the sight was disturbing. In the middle of a small empty space, there laid a table with her suit on it. Around it, there were lit candles and parchments with unknown language words written on them. At the table there stood a tall man wearing a gas mask and a red hooded robe with golden decorations. He had one hydraulic appendage attached to his shoulders, sporting a flashlight.

The strange human worked meticulously around the neck of the suit trying to connect lots of varying circuits in a proper manner. He hummed something that sounded like prayer to her. Then Katarzyna, the brute she were, walked up to him and punched his artificial limb.

''Hey cogboy! You have a visitor!''

The red robed man looked at Kala and quickly extanded his hand towards her.

''Artificer Stern. Don't worry, your suit will be operational and his machine spirit will be pleased within next four days. Your flesh-weakness will no longer be of a bigger problem to you.''

As quick as she shook his hand once, he retracted it and returned to his prayers and work.

''That's Stern for you. Don't bother with him too much. He has read some lore from the start of XXI century and he now names himself the phrophet of the machine god. As long as he tingles only with machines, but not AI it's good enough for me. Don't involve yourself in religious disputes with this guy and you'll be okay.''

She explained the strange acting of the self proclaimed priest and walked away. Kala followed her in every footstep, looking back after her suit. The mask looked different and she knew she will have to revisage her ''wig'' after she wears it again.

Then they went to the bridge, as Kala wanted to meet captain Sinead. When they entered it, she saw a great spheric room with floor hung slight under the middle. There was a big galaxy map displayed in a round holograph and some people situated in chairs around it. Behind the ''round table'' was a long corridor which she couldn't properly classify. In front of it stood three person. A turian with dark complexion and grey markings dressed in black uniform, an Asari in white camouflage armor and a man dressed in a black coat that turned out to be her savior.

They were discussing something with the turian which gesticulated a lot and often pointed at the map. The Asari stood between the two men and talked calmly when her savior tried to persuade the turian into his own point of view.

Katarzyna stopped her with her hand. She looked worried. The conversation was much louder now and the quarian could hear some of it's bits.

''I'm telling you we need to get to the north part of the traverse in order to back up Shepard! He's on his own out there! We must go there immediately!''

The Turian had a loud voice with a high flanging tones which made him sound squeaky yet strong and terrifing which added to the facial tattoos which were probably a imitation of his colony's worst fear from the past.

''I understand what you say, but I can't risk this ship's crew when we have that little amount of specialists. If you want to go by his example, then okay, but you need to gather more of them. It's either highly specialised or high numbers. Not both, not neither. And we need to get a proper ship for quick insertion. How do you expect a freighter like this survive a full-scale geth attack? It is fast, but also big. And it has other purpose than just being shot down by some synthethic bastards! Ive said my last word on this! Recruit more specialists and we dive into traverse. I'll take care of the insertion ship.''

The turian growled and looked at the asari, but when he didn't see approval of his words from her, he just banged his fist on one of the map's console and went out through the long corridor.

''That pissed off guy is Grey Ghost. He's a Spectre and he's hiring us. Come, I'll introduce you to those two.''

She felt really uncertain when Katarzyna dragged her by hand over to the place where the two warriors stood and now studied the map.

''...We should head back to Noveria. Maybe somebody useful signed up to us? And we could buy that vessel there as well.''

The asari spoke to the man with a soft yet proud tone.

''You're right. I'll tell Diaz to set a course for the base. I Hope that being that close to the traverse will calm down Ghost... Oh! We've got an outer-space malfunction?''

He turned to face the quarian, mistaking her for a member of the crew. Katarzyna laughed genuinely and patted Kala on her shoulders.

''She got tired of waiting so doc let her out in this costume. She really wanted to meet you. Go! introduce yourself!''

She pushed her slightly forward and walked into the long corridor. Kala dropped her gaze down and bowed before the two aliens. To her surprise, they did the same, but slightly higher as if to show their senior status.

''Keelah se'lai. My name is Kala'Rai nar Idenna. It's an honor to be here with you.''

The male smiled a bit.

''Keelah se'lai, young Kala. I'm Sinead Card vas Flotilla's Pride nar Ellysium. This is Shara Dan'ti. It's nice to have you on my ship.''

She was thrown into confusion when he ended his sentence. Not only did her savior appearer to be the captain, but he also introduced himself in proper quarian fashion. Also he has told her from where does he hail as she heard about Ellysium colony when she had listened to her enslaver's conversation. She quickly snapped out of it and bowed again.

''I would like to thank you for rescuing me and all the effort you took in restoring my suit. I pomise not to be a burden and I'll leave as soon as possible.''

''Don't worry about it. You're fully welcomed here as a guest of honor and if you want to, you can stay here for as long as you want. We can also drop you off over the Flotilla in our free time. Meanwhile, feel yourself at home. We could use a quarian engineer to help out Stern.''

Kala was overjoyed with the way he treated her, but she went silent.

''We can, of course drop you by on some civilised planet if you want.''

The asari spoke for the first time, gifting her with a broad smile. Kala looked up at her.

''No, that's not the case. Im not really good at engines. I'm rather good with computer systems and hacking though.''

''That's okay. Chronus needs someone to help him maintain the inner network of the ship. If you want, ask him. I bet Katarzyna introduced you to him.''

''Thank you for your trust. I'll try not to fail you.''

''No worries. Take your time with the decision. If you feel like you need something, ask one of us. I'm usually at my cabin, the last door in that corridor. Katarzyna is stationed at the security block near the habitual deck. Shara is often here or around the mess hall. Golun you know.''

''Thank you. I'll think it over.''

''Keelah se'lai, Kala.''

''Keelah se'lai, captain.''

*****

The next days were better, with her having less nightmares, less coughing and adjusting to the crew's life. She didn't have any ocasion to speak with captain Sinead, but everytime she went out to ask Chronus about her duties she got to talk with him and Katarzyna and once even with Shara.

The turian seemed to be a funny type of guy as he almost always cracked some jokes. He quickly apprecieted the help she provided and let her into the inner network of the base. Thanks to it she could shorten her trips to get assignments as he used an in-built communication program to send her messages. Up to now she got the basic chores like finding system bugs and were they were located. It turned out that the ship was overally in a great state, but the operating systems were in a really bad shape.

She finally felt needed and had a purpose. She even decided, that she'll stay here as a crewmate and will help them with their mission. She wasn't exactly sure what the mission was about, but it considered geths, and all living quarians were concerned about why did they left the perseus veil. She knew it would be dangerous, but the price was worthy enough for her to risk. And still, she wanted to know why does this ship has quarian designs and what links Sinead to the Migrant Fleet.

Then came the day, when she was introduced to her newly repaired envirosuit. It lost it's red and white colouring due to absence of any power source, but she found it fully functional. She decided to keep the gray colourization for the time being.

The doctor stood in front of her and gave her a broad smile before handing her the power source.

''As you still require a proper environment for actions like eating and such, I've spoken with captain Sinead about your relocation. Although it can sound a little disturbing to you, you'll share a room with him. It has the decontamination field working almost all the time so it's a good selection. He was reluctant at first, but I convinced him that since all other cabins haven't used their decontaminants in a long time, due to lack of quarian inhabitants, it's best to relocate you there.''

She looked curious.

''I'm used to sharing room from my time at home, but I still can't understand why does the captain act like a quarian. Even having the decontaminant field running all the time, when he obviously has a fully functional immune system.''

The doctor listened closely to what she said.

''When you dress up, come with me. I'll show you something.''

He said mysteriously before walking out of the room.

She looked after him with confusion and dressed up quickly. Then she took the laptop with her and went out. It was strange and sad to get back into the senseless suit. Sure, she got vision, smell and hearing, but without the touch factor it felt terrible. Still, it reminded her of home so she was happy to some degree.

The doctor led her through some passages and through the habitual deck just to have Chronus open a maintenance corridor for them.

''Showing her the shrine, huh? Good luck doc. By the way Kala, nice attire.''

She waved to him for good bye and entered the passage.

It was really dark in here and she needed to use her omni-tool to lit up the lights, despite that the doctor moved ahead without any doubt. The smell here was like home for her, the mixture of old air and oil. The doctor led her through some crossings of the corridors and finally stopped at something that in fact, looked like a shrine.

Here was a metal crate attached to the wall. On it there stood two neon lights and a holographic picture between them showing a veiled visage of a quarian. She quickly realized that his mask was the one that her suit now consisted.

The doctor dropped his gaze in a sad gesture. She realized, that the crate must be the burial site of the quarian.

''Here lies Rodo'Narat nar Raaya. He was the manufacturer of this ship and Captain Sinead's beloved friend. I won't tell you about their common history, that's something the captain alone can do. It's enough to tell you that they were like brothers and that captain lost his left arm trying to save him.''

''Lost an arm? But he had both when I saw him last time.''

''It's just a prosthethic limb. Anyways, lets not disturb the peace of the eversleeping. I'll lead you to captain's cabin. It too, was meant to be Rodo's room but he never got the chance.''

She looked at the shrine for a while longer. A captain buried on his ship. There wasn't a better place for a quarian. She gently stroked the coffin and loked deeply into what was his veiled eyes.

''Keelah se'lai, proud child of Raaya.''

She took her hand back and walked after the doctor.

The captain's room was in the furthest area of the corridor in the bridge section. The doors sported Quarian artistic markings, probably remembering the time when Rodo himself painted them. The doctor left her and she took a quick breath before entering the room

She was greated by a decontaminants chamber, similar to the ones usually located at the main airlock. Afterward, she entered the main room. She was greated by a strange sight. The spacious five cornered room had white furniture with a little rug sporting more quarian symbols. It had a large double bed with light-blue sheets on it and black satin cushions, a desk with a computer terminal with large display and a wardrobe next to a hung screen. There was also one couch in it's opposite. But the strange factor of the sight was, that two of the walls closest to the bed were just missing. There was the space outside of the ship that she could see.

Her awe was disrupted by Sinead who entered the room using the other doors, located in front of the wardrobe. He looked surprised.

''Oh! Hi! I didn't hear you going in. How do you like the room?''

''It's great, but that wall is disturbing.''

''Oh! I sometimes turn some scenery before I go to sleep. You can turn off the display or change it by the remote. Just like that''

He stretched his left hand towards the wall and double clicked a remote in his palm.

Now she got to look closely at him. He was wearing a black t-shirt and denim pants with black socks. His left arm was entirely metal having a good covering around it, but still showing his hand as skeletal.

The walls turned white after he clicked the remote and he dropped it at the desk. Only now she noticed things like a bookshelf over the bed and a bed table between it and the couch. Sinead turned his green eyes to her.

''I've prepared a seperate space for you. I know that quarians don't have a problem with sharing a room, but it would look bad if everyone saw us sleeping in one room.''

''Yes, yes! I understand it.''

She now sounded embarassed. Even for a second she didn't consider this case. Her savior smiled a bit to her, but still she saw sadness in his eyes. She guessed it's becouse she was wearing Rodo's mask. Sinead invited her to the next room.

The room appeared to be the bathroom. She looked accusingly at him.

''Okay, I know it looks strange, but this room, besides being a bathroom is a special escape pod. It has a fridge, own oxygen supply and it's own water current which I already changed to a clean one for you. The doors are hermetic and it has the same decontamination device the main room has. You have a drawer here as well as a bed, and you still can use my room freely. And, here you can take your suit off if you want, as every five minutes it becomes decontaminated. You still have to wear it around my room though, as my breath can spread dangerous germs. For worst, I have a rebreather mask.''

The idea sounded really nice to her. She enjoyed sleeping outside her suit in the laboratory and now she was given a chance to do so every night. Also her new roommate sounded quite nice for someone who had an authority over her. Now he was explaining to her how to know if the field works.

Under the ceiling there was a small box which would blip with a green light every five seconds and light up for the process every five minutes. If the light turned red and flashed constantly, it would meen a malfunction. He also gave her a similar remote to the one he used on the 'space' walls explaining that she can program it according to her will and that the remote also services the music system, which she can adjust on her terminal.

''But it's still your bathroom. What will you do when you feel the 'urge'?''

He smiled genuinely and left the room saying:

''It's not the only bathroom on this deck. I'll use another one. Feel yourself at home. Pleasent dreams, Kala.''

She put her laptop on the drawer, locked the door and sat on her couch-bed. The walls of the room blened around Sinead's cabin and she had a six cornered room trying to keep the shape of a square. She had a shower cabin next to the bed and a toilet opposite it. There was a reservoir here as well, and she had a small box container hung over the bed.

She started to play with the remote on the wall that was on the opposite of her. She saw some lakes, some mountains, even industrial and space screens, and one live feedback from the cameras outside the ship. Then she suddenly discovered a mirror screen.

There she was. A grey clothed Quarian with her right hand extanded forward. She stood up and looked at her image. She then looked on the decontamination box and waited for the green light to flash. When the procedure was done, she took off her mask.

She saw her face for the first time. Milky-purple complexion, violet irises, narrow eyes, black brows and a row of black, short cut hair, now still longer than ever. She wondered where would go the dividing line.

She touched her cheeks and looked directly into her eyes. The tears formed in them. So this is what her ancestors ignorance took from her people. Touch and their faces. Even if she tried, even if her mother was a scientist on Alarei working on how to hack the geth, she wasn't able to hate the syntetics for quarians's humilation. It was still the fault of the ancestors. She quickly took off her suit and looked onto her body. She wanted to find a way for their people to enjoy the touch like she did.

She went to the shower, a clean towel waited for her besides it. The learning of it's use was easy and soon she scrubbed her skin with a harsh sponge covered in synthethic soap. It was so good that she wanted it to last longer.

In the other room, Sinead undressed himself to his boxer shorts and dressed his artificial arm in a sponge like tissue. Then he turned it off at his belt and dropped on the bed. Before covering himself with sheets, he checked his gun under the pillow and threw himself on the other side, not to face the door of the quarian. His eyes dampened themselves with tears as he sobbed quietly.

''The mask looked good on her, Rodo. Good night.''

Then there was silence as he fell asleep.


	3. Downtown

**Author's note:**

**Okay, so here's the second chapter coming. I've decided to make more character switches, sometimes multiple ones for one chapter, but still, I'll concentrate mainly on Kala'Rai and Sinead, as they are the main protagonists, but yet, there will always be place for the rest of the specialists, like Chronus. Oh! And remember, reviews are most welcomed. ^_-**

**Lost but Not Damned**

Chapter II - Downtown

Kala woke up later than usual. The first night in new room got onto her and she couldn't sleep well. Yet now she felt a little refreshed. She quickly washed her face enjoying the cold water, and put on her mask. Now she realized, that indeed, her 'hair-cloth' didn't match the mask as she suspected. She spent more of her time just fixing it to look properly and in her sense, pretty. She then took her laptop and headed out hoping she won't disturb the captain's sleep.

Sinead was sitting in front of his computer terminal with his coat hung on the back of his chair. He turned his face when he heard a quiet bumb of the second doors in his room. Kala stood there, somewhat different, slightly more mature for him. She looked surprised.

''Captain! I...!''

He waved a hand to brush off her consternation.

''Call me Sinead. Only the 'foot soldiers' call me captain. And some others, behind my back. How's your health?''

She quietly processed what he said to her.

''I'm okay, I think. I hadn't coughed from yesterday but I'm still a bit tired.''

''Good to hear you're all right. Better hurry up to Chronus. You're two hours late. ''

He said without any emotions but still he smiled slightly. She gazed at his bedclock realizing her error.

''I'm sorry! This won't happen again...''

''Don't worry. Chronus did well before you showed up, you just make him more effective. Hell-a-lot more effective to be precise.''

He sounded caring now, like then on that planet. She didn't even remember it's name.

''Thanks, Sinead.''

He took a sip from a coffee cup next to to his terminal and turned to face her.

''Besides, you're still in recovery, so I should just ground you to recover fully, but I figured that wouldn't stop you.''

She smiled under her helmet. For a strong-silent type he talked much and had good observational skills. Soon she remembered what she wanted to talk with him about.

''Sinead... There's one thing I wanted to ask you.''

''Yes?''

She fondled her laptop at her hips in a girlish-shy way and looked at him with her head tilted down. He raised an eyebrow taking another sip of his coffee.

''Is there one place vacant in the crew? I would like to join you in hope that I can fulfil my pilgrimage on the way. ''

He smiled sincerally and put down his cup.

''Okay. I'll register you in the crew database when I'm free. I warn you that this way you're contributing to our couse and you will become part of the Triumvirate Corps. That means you get regular payments but also some ground-based jobs. You are free to leave whenever you want, but I expect full loyalty to the crew. Is that okay with you?''

''Yes.''

She said with a newfound strength. Sinead turned back to his laptop with a slight smile on his scarred lips.

''Okay, we'll finish the formalities when you return from your post later today. Go and help Chronus now. We'll meet later.''

He sounded professional but still friendly. She nodded and left with a quick 'good bye'.

Sinead opened his captain's log and quickly adjusted the crew chart with new data. Then he took the last sip of his coffee and opened an app which was the inner network's communication channel. He chose many 'addresses' from the crew's roster and typed them a message.

*****

Chronus sat at his desk and was drinking some drink from his secret stash and enjoying the silence of his post. Katarzyna was off to do her regular around-the-deck patrols and he had been washing off the night of the human game called poker. That sneaky girl Diaz was a good player, but still, Chronus was new to it.

The drink tasted delightful. Cookie described it once as the turian equivalent of coffee, but he couldn't compare it. Heck, neither could Cookie. When he was about to return to the diagnostics of the surveillance cameras, his omni-tool blibped noticing him of new message in his box. He quickly checked it as it was marked with Sinead's address.

The turian smiled to himself reading the notice. He did expect that but not as soon. His covert ops skills will be put to test.

''This sounds like fun...''

He smirked to himself.

''What?''

He heard a female, metallic voice behind him. He quickly closed the message and turned around to face Kala'Rai.

''I just got a link to a vid on the You-vid. Humans have a way with community portals. Anyways, the title says: A human, a salarian and a krogan playing twister.''

He lied without a blink. Kala looked a little confused.

''I don't know that game.''

''It's a simple social game developed about one and a half century ago on earth. You play with one to three opponents on a mat with different coloured circles on it. Then you draw which limb comes to the proper dot with the proper colour. The first one who collapses is the loser. Didn't tried it yet, but it's a very contactive game. Heard that hanar are good at it. Since they have those tentacles.''

She tilted her head and smiled. He couldn't see that through her visor, but her body language and voice tone gave him the idea.

''You have a good intel, Chronus.''

''Hey! I _am _the intel. If I don't know something, then nobody on this ship knows. There, of course, comes the understanding of the intel, but that's another story.''

She giggled, apprecieting his joke. Then he handed her a notepad with her assignments.

''For today, I'll give you a 'field' duty. You are to locate the places where damaged equipment couses the network to malfunction. Not a hard one, but with a lot of walking. You'll be working mainly in the maintenance corridors, so patch yourself a good flashlight. When you locate the little bastard, just tick it off on the list and make a note about where it was. The specifications and basic diagnostics are on the datapad.''

''Okay, I'll get to it right away.''

He smiled. She didn't like that one smile a bit.

''One more thing. Since you were late, take an extra hour. And as I'll won't be here by the time you finish for today, leave the pad on my desk.''

Oh she knew she'll get something like that. The turian turned her around in his arms and pushed her gently out of the security office.

''Get to work and on the double, Kala.''

He laughed. That little bosh'tet. She sighed and walked to the only known maintenance entry she knew. She decided that it's the best thing to start, and she also wanted to visit the shrine for the second time. She decided that one day, she must ask Sinead about Rodo. She knew it could hurt him, but she was just curious.

*****

Cookie and Crunchy were having an argument in the kitchen. They couldn't decide on the first dish for both levo and dextro aminous crewmates. Then, from out of nowhere, Chronus emerged and stood in front of them for a while before they realized he was there.

''What is it son?''

Crunchy asked.

''Haven't you get the message from captain?''

''No? What is it?''

''Darn, carry your omni-tools with you, would you?''

He just showed them the message on his display. They both looked surprised at it.

''This soon?! We won't have the ingredients!''

''Calm down! Something small and some minor crackers or such will suffice. Crunchy, I believe you still got that palaven low-alcohol brew you once bought?''

''Yes, it's still plenty of it. Only I drink it since you dropped it for that human vodka.''

''Speaking of which, Cookie, bring one bottle.''

''Oh no! Don't expect me to party with you when it's around. I still remember those kicks you gave me after last time.''

''I'm out as well, kiddo. I'm not exactly the party person. But don't worry, we'll make something for it.''

''I'm counting on you guys. Good luck.''

*****

Shara knocked over to the captain's cabin. Sinead let her in in a matter of seconds, still working on his terminal. She smiled at him and left the bags she brought with herself on his bed, neatly sheated. The captain was now standing and putting his coat on.

''I must check what's Ghost up to for today and then help Yarel with the shipping orders. The stupid Volus insists on having me signing all the papers. I'll leave the decorations to you.''

''Too bad, Sinead. I hoped you could still 'help' me get 'busy'.''

She wrapped her hands around his shoulders and hugged him from behind. He sighed, a little irritated.

''Shara, please. I told you that you can toy with me only during our therapy sessions.''

''Yes, I remember. You aren't interested in intimate relationships after last time. What must I do to convince you to come back?''

''I think nothing. The therapy won't change my mind on you. You are a friend. Nothing else. It just can't think of you the same after that time.''

He got out of her grasp and turned off the terminal. Then he looked at her with a little smile on his devastated lips.

''I still appreciete what you are doing for me and I appologize for my words.''

''You know that I understand you. No need for being appologetic. Now go, before I force you into a session.''

She said with humorous tint in her voice and waited for him to leave. When he was done, she lowered her head in sadness. What's done it's done, but she still regretted it. Oh the sunrise on Ellysium.

She quickly wiped out a single tear that ran down her cheek and started creating the decorations. She didn't want to make their new crewmate offended by treating her in a childish way, but still wanted this to look cheerful. She made some smaller transparent and hung them on the wall, and then she covered them in neatly painted Quarian writings. It was three houndred years since she used the quarian language, but she hoped she didn't make any typos. She wondered, how much did their traditions changed from the time she left their homeworld in one of their first migrant vessels. A terrible day. A day full of quarian blood.

She snapped out of her memories when she realized she has written her thoughts on the bigger transparent. She quickly erased it and used Sinead's remote to turn on one of his working soundtracks. She always apprecieted his taste of old, almost classical music from earth's last century. When the soft beats of Immediate Music's _Watch over Me _sounded, she felt calm and at peace, and her later work with backgrounds was a bliss.

*****

Doctor Golun watched patiently as Kala worked on the circuits in his laboratory. Lately, he experianced some serious energy losses during some experiments and he was pleased to see, that Chronus have sent someone to investigate. Kala even met his assistant, a charming young human female with short cut red hair and, apart from sporting a lab coat of similar fashion that the doctor wore, wearing glasses, a thing weird for today's standards, as modern science eliminated eye disorders.

While the doctor was complaining out loud about the conditions he has to work in, his assistant remained silent, studying something under her microscope and smiling to Kala from time to time.

Only after half an hour of babbling the assistant silenced him by giving him some datasheets and one bulb full of green liquid. When he got into the laboratory, which yesterday was still Kala's room, she spoke to the quarian.

''Sorry about doc, tends to be a pain in the butt, but he's a nice person.''

Kala looked back at her.

''Yeah, he's really talkative.''

The assistant smiled at her. She had full lips with red lipstick on them, which made Kala a bit jealous. Comparing the sight of the human with her unmasked face, she was nothing to compare.

''We weren't introduced, I was off due to sickness. My name is Julliet. You must be Kala'Rai nar Idenna, right? Doctor told me a lot about you.''

''That's me. Nice to meet you.''

Kala turned over to her hoping that the human will extanded her hand, like most do, but the redhead kissed both sides of her mask instead. After the long and confusing silence, Julliet giggled.

''You look puzzled. Don't worry, we say hello like this from where I come. An old custom from Earth. Anyways... How's the work? The rumor spreads that you decided to join the crew.''

''Rumors?''

''Yeah. They're always around, especially when doc get's to them. He spreads them like germs. Strange that he never ever broken the doctor-patient confidentiality that he always boasts about. So, how is it?''

''That's true, I want to join, as most obviously you'll face geth in the near future. And the work is nothing hard compared to what I faced back at the Flotilla.''

''That's nice. So, as you're accomodated here already, how about joining one of our ladies nights? We hold them every sixth day in one of our cabins on the habitual deck, just after the dayshift. The next one comes in three days. Cards, sweets, vids and women talk. How about it?''

''I'm not sure, but I think I'll join. How many women are on this ship anyways?''

The assistant smiled a bit. She sat on her chair and crossed her legs. Kala thought that she had better hips, but overally the human legs looked better. No big deal, since the human seemed to be well fed, while the quarian girl only started eating regularly.

''There are six turian girls in the security Corps. We don't deal with them couse they don't want to. Their loss. We have some human ones, but as you probably noticed, Katarzyna is quite the opposite to her sex. The other one is Diaz, our pilot. She's a loudmouth but still likes to stick with us and loves to drink with us. There is also our navigator, Suzuki Namino, we call her Suzzy, the ever romantic girl. We also invited a new technician, Cassidy and recently Shara has joined us. As you can see, we are at minority. Chronus even jokes that if not for Katarzyna and her hard grip on the turians, we would get to be an object of sexual wars between the males. Personally, I don't blame them. they're just people, like all of us.''

Kala smiled to herself. She didn't like the idea of violance, but the idea of men competing with each other to win the girl appealed to her a bit. As long as it didn't resort to mistreating the women.

''I'll think about it. Thanks for the invitation.''

''No problem. It's always good to have another sister around.''

*****

The day was really hard now. Sinead knew it even before it started. As he approached Grey Ghost's room he wasn't sure if the tuian would spare him or will he start a fight. When he pressed the doorbell he heard a loud and annoyed:

''Who is it?''

He gulped and coughed silently.

''It's Sinead. I wanted to talk with you.''

''Come in...''

The doors slid open and he entered the room. The turian always sat with his lights down and the only light-source was his computer terminal. Right now he watched the approaching human.

''What is it that you want?''

He asked with annoyed voice. Sinead didn't let it get to him and stood firm, his expression dull.

''We'll be docking at Noveria. We need to refill our resources both in minerals and manpower. We'll be close to Terminus, so I hope that our squabble from yesterday will subside. Right after we deal with the matters there, like half a week for the _Pride _in dock in the neighbour system, we're off to terminus. I'll have Chronus gather info on Saren's whereabouts when we reach there. Does it suit you?''

The spectre got up from his seat and walked over to Sinead.

''No. But I'll cope. Although I have full authorithy over you, you have a point.''

''I didn't expect you to act so calm. What's up?''

''First of, you were right and I can't deny it. Second, I see the spectre feats in you, especially when you stood up to me on the bridge.''

''It's still not enough. What are you hiding?''

The spectre smirked in a turian way and sat on his desk. Then he handed him a datapad.

''Your decision pleased me. I've just discovered that Saren's got some connections to Binary Helix on Noveria. To be exact, he funds their research there. I'll be glad to investigate this revelation.''

Sinead just smiled in his annoyance. He downloaded the data to his omni-tool and smacked the datapad on the turian's desk.

''Can't wait to be a spectre. I can be a total jerk and get away with it.''

''That's the fun part, Sinead.''

Ghost smiled and slid his doors behind the human. Sinead just walked away and headed to Habitual deck, where Yarel the volus had his post. Some of the crewmembers remember him swearing under his voice, but he wouldn't give a damn about it.

*****

Kala has finished her work even more late than Chronus told her to. She just wanted to show she's efficient and reliable, but it turned out that the work was just too big to end it earlier. Especially that Stern called her an infidel when she tried to check the cables around the engineering deck and it caused her to play hide-and-seek with him to perform her duties. He was really troublesome.

Now she stood on the bridge and was heading to the captain's room. The technicians and the navigator greeted her silently. It was night-shift already, and the lights on the corridors where dimmed, so she could experiance the ship in a new shade. Back on Idenna, they could only turn off the lights in their habitual area, there was no 'fake-night'. She missed her old ship, but this one have proven to be even more interesting. And almost everyone were kind to her or at least tolerative.

She approached the captain's doors and opened it. It was dark but the walls didn't sport any images so Sinead wasn't here. She turned on the lights and was overwhelmed with the sight before her. The doors slid back behind her when the welcoming party built of Sinead, Katarzyna, Shara, Chronus, Golun and Julliet shouted at her:

''Welcome to the crew!''

Sinead was the first to walk to her when everybody clapped their hands. He carried a paint brish and a template cut out on a square sheet. Kala wasn't sure what really was happening, so shocked by the way it turned out. Sinead smiled broadly to her, dressed in his black coat.

''Hereby I announce that you have been officially entered to the _Flotilla's Pride _crew registry and you are now part of the specialist branch of Triumvirate Corps. Wear our emblem with pride and please, accept your entry.''

He signed her to extend her chest and he placed the template on her left breastplate. Than he used his brush to mark her with a yellow paint. Kala was surprised to see the three diamond logo again, this time on her chest. The clapping raised and soon she was embraced by the specialists.

Julliet hugged her with much strenght and smiled at her before handing her over to Chronus who hugged her by the waist with one hand, and extanded the other one with a small package in it. She quickly put it in her pouch and hugged him harder. He smiled as he handed her over to Golun, who eagerly embraced her and said some wishes.

Katarzyna didn't want to get into all the hugging, so she just shook her hand with a power only a Krogan would be able to utilize. Shara was next, with her embrace being the slightest one but still the most emotional to Kala.

Then, sudedenly, the music kicked in, and Chronus yelled with a bottle of vodka raised to the sky:

''Party time, People!''

There wasn't much dancing as Kala expected, but the party was still fun. The only bottle of vodka, a drink she didn't knew, was quickly emptied by the older crewmates, but she, under Sinead's order could drink only one bottle of a turian drink, that Chronus handed oer to her. There were some talks, mainly between the males and the females, but, to Kala's surprise, Katarzyna was the only woman in the man group, and Chronus was the only guy in the women group.

Shara was curious if the quarian signs were proper and quickly asked Kala about them. The quarian herself was amused at the way the asari commando could handle her people's language and asked how she knew it. The blue one just answered with a secretive tone:

''I'll tell you other time, not now.''

It looked like Katarzyna was going wild with her stories as she began to wave her hands a lot and shout even more.

''Oh! It's time for me to go and fetch her. Sorry ladies, duty calls!''

Chronus explained in a jokingly matter and moved to the loud woman. Julliet leaned over and whispered to the quarian's would-be-ear:

''They have an agreement on getting drunk. One at a time and the second one 'rescues' the one who gets drunk.''

Kala smiled under her mask. The sight of the turian trying to calm down the loud woman was hillarious.

As soon as the turian's leader was out of the room, the atmosphere subsided a bit. The music was turned down a bit and now served as a background. The doctor and his assistant left soon enough as the salarian said he had urgent matters to attend to. They once again wished Kala luck and went out.

The only ones left were Shara, Sinead and Kala. The music was down by now and the asari was helping to clean up the party. The atmosphere was still good, although Sinead didn't said anything till now. The captain was silent, but both the women could feel that he was in a good mood, partly by some of the alcohol he drunk (although he drank least of all). The girls were getting along pretty good and that was the thing that pleased him so much.

When the asari was out, Sinead quickly headed out to take a shower in the other bathroom. The quarian girl became a little sad. He didn't even let her thank him. She entered her room. The decontamination sequence was about to start so she was able to quickly remove her mask. Then she saw that on her drawers, right on the usual laptop's place stood a plate with a hermetic dome on it. She now realized, that she didn't eat properly today, just utilizing her tubed nutent paste when she felt the worse hunger.

She quickly uncovered the plate and saw something that looked almost like a human hat. It was a dark brown round cake with some iceing on top of it and a small letter on the side of the plate and a small spoon. She took the letter and read it using standard translator on her omni-tool.

_Me and Cookie hope you'll like it. I used almost all my private stash to make it this big. Cookie purified it as always and helped me with the iceing. If you won't manage to eat it in one go, put it in the fridge. Good to have you on board. We wish you luck._

_- Crunchy and Cookie_

She took the spoon in her hand and tried a bit with the iceing. It was delicious. She never have eaten something this sweet and she felt that her life was totally worth it. She must take the recipe Back to the Flotilla one time, she thought.

Then she placed the spoon back and plugged her laptop into the room's interface. Then she remembered about the small package that Chronus gave her. Inside there was a small storage card and a letter.

_Found it on the extranet, install it in your wall display system. Just a thing to not let you become homesick... or the other way. I hope the first option will work. Good luck kiddo._

She plugged it in and let the application install. Then she got her mask back on and entered Sinead's room.

She waited a bit for him, sitting on his couch. He certainly took his time when it got to cleaning up. When he finally entered, he was dressed in his usual sleepwear, the boxer shorts and a tank-top but now he wore a dressing gown on it. He was dry but his hair still showed the natural thing for being after the shower. She got up and went to him as he entered the room. The girl looked him right into his eyes as he stopped. She was shorter by a head than him so it took some effort.

''What is it Kala?''

He finally asked.

To his surprise, she stood on her toes and threw her arms around his neck. Not knowing what to do, he embraced her delicately by her waist with his right arm. The quarian sounded emotional when she spoke.

''Thank you.''

''What?''

''I wanted to thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would've been dead by now. You didn't know me one bit and yet you did so much for me and gave me so much acceptance. I still cannot understand it, but thank you!''

She was hugging him really tightly and it made him feel uneasy. He felt happiness and sorrow as the images from the past flashed before him. He then pushed her away delicately and stared into her eyes.

''Sit down, I want to tell you something.''

He asked her. Reluctantly, she took her seat on the couch, as he took his closely, but on the edge of his bed. She looked uneasy, so he decided to smile, to comfort her. It didn't quite work becouse of his scar. He finally took his breath and started talking.

''I was sixteen when I earned this scar. It was during a batarian raid ten years ago.

''Slavers...''

She whispered. He smiled again.

''It wasn't exactly the infamous Skylian Blitz, as it happened three years later, but it was the same place. I grew up on Ellysium. To my people it was supposed to be the most successful colony there ever was, but I never thought so. I was an orphan raised by gangs. Small time criminals, now that I'm past it.''

She let out a surprised sound as she heard that. His care and his actions didn't back up this story. He continued.

''I needed a purpose, as nobody needed me. The gangs gave me something similar, yet perverted in a way. Anyways, during one of the gang fights, the airraid alarm sounded and soon all hell let loose. My gang tried to defend at first, when the batarians came, but we were quickly cut down. I got a lucky shot, that this scar is a reminder of. I was the sole survivor of them and one batarian went after me, chasing me into a dead end. I was terrified.''

''You were just a kid then.''

She sounded compassionate. He just shrugged.

''I knew what it was to kill by then and knew all consequences. I grew up really fast.''

A short silence fell before he continued his confession.

''I still remember people dying around me from the havok that the batarians wrecked. When I hid behind a crate, the batarian already knew where I was. I've heard his laugh and his footsteps. When he leaned over the crate and pointed his rifle at me, I was certain he would kill me. Then, the most strange thing happened.''

''What was it?''

She grew even more interested by the story, reminding her the storytellers's nights. Sinead smiled broadly.

''An individual in an envirosuit jumped at the batarian from nowhere and stuck a knife in his face. He was a quarian who wore your new mask before you. He didn't even introduced himself to me then, just wanting to know if I was okay. Of course I didn't believe him at first, he was just another alien in a human colony. But then he took up the batarian's rifle and threw me his pistol. 'Come with me if you want to live' he said grimly as in an old human vids (he laughed so hard when he discovered the vid later on). So I went with him. Rodo took me to his ship along with some other humans and he transported us to the other side of the colony, to a safe place. Afterwards I've joined him on his pilgrimage, and that gave me the purpose, as well as he tought me compassion and many more. And his pilgrimage is still a purpose to me. I'll never leave a quarian in need when I'll see one.''

She quietly analyzed what he said to her. She touched her mask for a brief moment and looked at him in a mixture of confusion and something else, which none of them could identify.

''Why did you...?''

She asked but not finished. He waited for a moment, as if thinking for an answer.

''You've opened your heart to me, so I wanted to open mine. Rodo once said, that to humans, it's really close to mask removal for quarians. Besides, all other specialists know my full story, why not introduce you to the most important part? You'll discover that all of us have our stories hidden under our own masks. We already uncovered them for ourselves. You must do the same. And to do so, you must earn their trust. For today, you have mine. I hope that I can have yours.''

She went silent again and looked down, overthinking what she heard. She tried to look him in the eyes but she couldn't whitstand it for long.

''I'm sorry. I can't... Just yet.''

''I understand that it's still fresh for you. No hurries, I'm always here if you want to talk.''

''Thank you Sinead.''

He placed his right hand on top of her left.

''No, Kala, I thank you. It's always hard for me to put up with my inner demons. You helped me a bit today.''

She finally stared into his eyes. It took almost a minute for her to say something.

''How is it to kill? I had almost killed one slaver who attacked me, but it was just an almost.''

He dropped his gaze. She asked the only natural question which he didn't see coming.

''It gets easier with everytime. For most. For me, I have a way to deal with it. Make yourself believe it was right to do and don't ask any questions afterwards. It doesn't always work. When I kill a slaver like the one that wanted to sell you, I feel no remorse. If I kill someone who I know is just a hired gun, I can have qualms about it. Or not. Depends. I never kill an unarmed person who doesn't pose a direct threat to me. In most cases, not asking the questions is the best bet.''

''I see.''

''Go to sleep Kala. It's late. Although we should reach Noveria by tommorow and most specialists go off shore, you should be well rested.''

''Thanks for today, Sinead.''

''Your welcome. Pleasent dreams.''

She hugged him once more before leaving to her room. She had lots of food for thought but she decided to give them away for another day. Now she's gotten to eat more of the delicious cake and check out what Chronus preared for her. She toyed with her remote and clicked to the new content. She almost let the plate out of her hand as it showed up on the walls.

There it was, the Migrant Fleet hovering over a bright yellow star. She even remembered some of the features and she noted that the images should have been about four years old. She put the cake into fridge noticing some bottles of the drink she got on the party stashed on the lower case. Then she walked closer to the wall and studied

the ships. The biggest, spheric live ship was obviously the main feature of the fleet, but she looked for one smaller ship. Then she spotted it, only half of it sticking out from behind the tail of the biggest ship. The Idenna, her birthship. She almost cried but yet, stood there smiling. Chronus deserved a hug tommorow.

*****

It was eerie to step on the landing schuttle and descend to the planet. Noveria looked grim to her and if not for Sinead's words yesterday, she would remain on the ship. The main party that Sinead has chosen contained Himself, Julliet, Shara, Katarzyna and Chronus, not mentioning Kala and the spectre. It was strange to her, to see them in full gear for the first time. Sinead explained to her, that the Triumvirate was one of the main security companies in port Hanshan, and it gave them the privilege of carring their guns and armor all around. The armors have been a colourful bunch.

Sinead wore a heavy looking one with a really dark green colouring with white industrial markings and an orange visor. The emblem was on the forehead of his helmet. Katarzyna wore a red camouflage heavy armor without a helmet and with the emblems on both her left breast and her shoulderpads. Shara wore a white camouflaged light armor with similar emblem patterns and Julliet also had light armor, but just white with black garments and the logo on her left shoulder. Chronus wore a black and red heavier armor with helmet on, and his turian collegue had a bright white and grey one without a helmet, apparently gaining to his codename.

Kala still got her armored suit in grey colours. The yellow emblem on her chest filled her with the feeling of self-confidence. She was a part of the team and even if the Spectre wouldn't talk to her, she knew she was vital.

Port Hanshan was big enough to house many earthly needs stores and habitual areas, being the business centre of Noveria. There was a problem with security issues, but the administrator's aide quickly solved the problem. Kala found her suspcious, as if the woman wasn't really comfortable with her work's 'uniform', but she didn't had the time to dwell into the subject as the team advanced into the port, some of the guards from ERC gifting them with begrudging glares.

''It's becouse we won the lower level's security licenses here. We are competition to them.''

Julliet explained to the young quarian. Soon, Ghost stopped them in front of a big square.

''We'll split beyond here. I want to check the Binary Helix bureau. The recruiting and the rest I'll leave to you for now.''

And without waiting for reaction he walked off.

''Jerk.''

Julliet mumbled below her breath. Everyone couldn't disagree.

The team walked to the shop ran by a hanar. As he saw them, he opened all of his chests and such.

''Greatings to you, humble Triumvirate beings! This one is pleased to see you again. What will it be today?''

The hanar said waving his tentacles a bit. Sinead stood forth to him.

''Hello there. Nothing special. We will replace some personal gear and I would like you to introduce this young lady with the best equips and mods of her choice.''

Sinead pointed at Kala to step up. She was a bit freaked out by the hanar's presence. He was towering over her even if his main body was smaller than her. He extented one of his tentacles as if to guide her.

''Ah! A new being in your midst? This one is pleased to meet her. Please, come over here, you'll find this one's equipment to be the best you can get.''

Sinead left the two to do the dealings and he joined his team in replacing their equipment. He changed his own pistols for the only heavy ones which could be outfitted with silencers. They weren't really heavier to him, at least to his right hand, but the firepower was indeed 'heavier'.

Julliet took her shotgun and just replaced the mods in it, as well as the ones in her armor. She also replaced her pistol for a sub machinegun one.

The easiest choice was with Katarzyna as she just replaced all her weapons for new ones. The universal soldier she was spoke through her as she decided to replace her sniper rifle with a prototype grenade launcher.

Chronus outfitted his helmet with a mod designed to increase accuracy and quickly replaced his pistol. He never chose to replace his favorite sniper rifle, the Hood-cutter, which he claimed killed three krogans in one headshot. Although that sounded ridiculous, his efficiency with the sniper rifle was terrifingly good.

Shara didn't exchange nothing except for her ammo compartments. Her pistol and assault rifle were known to have been almost two hundred years old and still functional and effective. Modified to the point where the original design was lost, they were the deadliest weapons in asari hands.

Soon Kala returned with an assault rifle and a pistol. Sinead was surprised.

''I thought that you were the sniper type.''

He said while paying the hanar.

''Back at the Flotilla, I had best score in training with assault rifles. The Captain even joked that I could be a civil-protection marine.''

''I can imagine you in a police uniform. With a thick stunstick.''

Chronus joked for what he was smacked by Julliet on the back of his head.

''Watch your tongue!''

Kala giggled. She didn't quite understand what the turian was getting at, but Julliet's reaction was funny to her.

''Okay team, move out.''

''Oh! Sinead!? Could we just meet up in the main office? I wanted to take Kala to do some shopping. On my account.

''Okay, you have an hour.''

Julliet looked at him accusingly.

''Okay! Two hours. Nothing less, nothing more.''

''Okay, see ya!''

Sinead and Chronus walked away in the direction of the main elevator shaft while the girls went in their own direction, to the ones situated besides the landing pad.

Kala was curious what would they buy if she already got her weapons. She looked questioningly at her elder collegue when they were going down in the elevator.

''How thick is that suit of yours, Kala?''

''What?''

''How thick is it?''

Kala was surprised by the question to the point she lost her grip on the answer.

''It's durable, but not thick at all. Maybe three milimeters?''

''Okay, so we must buy things one size smaller than ones for your suit.''

''What for?''

She sounded scared. Julliet, in turn, became slightly annoyed.

''Geez! We will buy you some casual wear. You don't expect me to know, that you spend your time in your room in your suit or naked, and let it go. We'll buy you some decent clothes. Only synthethic cloths, just to not make you allergic or get you an infection. ''

She was smiling now.

They turned silent as they were going down in the same elevator for some minutes. Kala cursed them in thoughts for being this slow.

''Tell me Kala, have you ever been in a relationship?''

Julliet finally broke the silence. Kala looked at her with consternation. Was she uncovering the mask that Sinead was talking about last night?

''I don't think so. There was this guy back at home, but we never settled it down as a relationship. We just liked to cuddle from time to time. I haven't seen him in some years now. Why do you ask?''

''I wanted to know something. We are similar. I didn't have one too.''

''I can't belive that! You have such astonishing looks! I thought of you as a woman who had everything.''

''Well, looks aren't everything. Sure, I had some men, but all of them were one time adventures, not proper relationships. The ones that I ever cared about were terrified with the fact that I'm a biotic.''

She said sadly and lifted her right hand. It sported a dark blue distorting aura, typical for biotic use. It quickly faded though.

''I can't understand it. Biotics are common on the galactic scene from millenias.''

''Yes, but we are new to our own species. Humans have bad attitude towards everything that stands out. In our history we had even stupid wars about the fact that some people had a different skin tone. Hatred towards biotics is similar to that concept of racism.''

''It must have been hard for you.''

''Yeah. Kind of. My parents tried to understood at first, but my father grew impatient and finally they threw me to biotics camp at System's Alliance capital. That was even worse. I had the luck of getting an L3 prototype amp. The rest was horrible. Most of the kids didn't trust each other. Besides, we had a really bad teacher, a turian biotic by the name of Vyrnus. It was even worse after one of the senior students killed him in self defence. Then hapened the rest, with incomplete training I was dropped off. I restarted my education but the biotic shadow was always after me. To this day I wonder if I got my earlier certificates due to my science skills or due to my biotic 'influence' or, in other words, fear. Anyways, all guys are scared of me. Even if I really try to hide my origin, they sooner or later see the implant sticking out from my neck.''

''That's sad. But why are you telling this to me?''

''We are sisters on the same mission. We should know each other. I'll wait for your story to the time you are ready to tell me. Up to that time, I'll wait. Oh! And to be one hundred percent frank with you, you have a certain feat to you, that makes people open to you. You are a naturally bred good listener. Trust me, interspecies psychology is one of my certificates.''

The doors opened and they stepped out. A human guard in black armor with yellow emblem on his helmet saluted to them seeing their emblems.

''I think we'll start off with buying you some lingerie. If we buy good ones, you could even wear them under your suit when you go out.''

''Okay Julliet. You lead the way.''

''Call me Jullie, Kala.''

''Okay.''

The quarian sounded cheerful as she was taken under arm by her elder 'sister'.

*****

Sinead sat in his chair at the main office. He placed his feet on the desk as he looked through the CVs of the people they got hired when he wasn't around. The volus left in charge did great job, but up to now he didn't find anyone capable of becoming a specialist. Although Kala was an exception as he was shooting blind if her skills will be sufficient for the team, he couldn't afford more blindshots.

Chronus was out, inspecting infos from his contacts on Noveria, and checking out transmissions. Espionage was his line of expertise, to that Sinead couldn't disagree, but sometimes it annoyed him.

He double-checked a CV of a volus domolition expert. It sounded hillarious to him, to see a Volus playing Rambo from the ancient vids. He left the CV out to send it over to Grey Ghost. The next one was even better. An elcor claiming to be a biotic commando. Sinead trusted his caretaker and he knew he could test the individual. It sounded so funny to him that he just had to leave his CV on the special pile. Next wasn't so good, but wasn't bad neither. A salarian ex-commando. One handed but still capable. He also left it over and looked at the next ones. Some dull looking rookies.

Then Shara entered the office carrying two mugs of coffee. She put one in front of Sinead and sat filaterously on the edge of the desk.

''Have something already?''

''Only three. The elcor one sounds funny, but Darla'Dot must have checked him out.''

''You're right, it's funny.''

She giggled as she looked into the file. Sinead resumed checking next ones.

More recruits, some people with minor mercenary history. Then he found a CV of a krogan and he spilled his coffee. It would be the first krogan in the Triumvirate's midst. He quickly checked his profile. A Krogan Rebellions veteran, over two hundred years of bounty hunter's history, minor biotic abbilities, very stable character and positive approach. Both Sinead and Shara were stunned by the revelation. Not one krogan ever passed their behavioral tests and joined the ranks. This one was definitevaly special. Sinead left out his CV with the adnotation that he approves this one if Ghost choses him.

Soon they ran out of CV's and they had only these four worth it. Sinead sent them to Spectre's private e-mail box and they both walked out. Julliet and Kala arrived half an hour ago and they were adding something to the _Pride's _shipping list. Sinead presumed that it was the shopping.

Soon all of them went to the bar just to have some drinks and eat something. Kala was pleased to find a special bowl with peanuts for dextro-amino beings.

''So, where's Chronus and Katarzyna?''

Julliet asked while sipping on her martini. Shara shook her head.

''When she heard that Darla hired a krogan, she went on to meet him. She gave no responses from then. I think, that they are sorting differences right now. In a krogan way.''

''Yeah, Katarzyna. The only human raised by krogans, it would seem.''

The red head joked and smirked. Kala giggled as she tasted on the salty nuts. It was convenient that the mask's ingestion tube could purify the nuts so she could taste them. Soon Sinead arrived with his drink. Kala was surprised to see a small keg of beer. She never before seen a drink of this colour and with this much foam on the top. Sinead took a straw and started to drink slowly.

''You always complain that you can never finish a once started beer. If you drink it by the straw, then it's no surprise.''

Shara commented with a smile on her lips.

''I like beer. I hate the foam. Simple.''

Sinead talked back and drew another sip.

Kala was still quiet and observed Sinead. His eyes, for the first time since she met him, weren't sad. As if the drink, or the atmosphere calmed his soul. He loked better when there was fire in these two emerald eyes. Julliet knocked her shoe slightly on her calf. When the quarian turned to face her she signed her not to stare too much. She had a point.

Not much later, a Turian with purple tattoos sat next to them. Chronus wasn't wearing his helmet, carying it under his shoulder. He leaned over the table and said quietly:

''Ghost is not responding but I have a vital information about Saren. Long range scanners of the Synthetic Insights 's lab structure at Peak Nineteen picked up an unknown ship entering the atmosphere, and then the communications broke up. The director of SI, Lorik Quinn thinks it's the resault of the snow storm outside, but I got to the readings sent before the break up. It was a geth dropship, similar to those Shepard encountered on Therum and near the Armstrong cluster. I'm not sure why only the SI sensors picked it up, but I think we have to investigate it. After all, SI hired us for the security over there.''

He ended his report and stood up as the rest of them.

''We'll prepare for the departure. Tell Katarzyna to join us in the garage with her new friend. I'll organise a second strike team that the krogan will lead. Meet us in there in half an hour.''

Sinead said calmly and led the team to the elevator. Kala was excited as well as terrified. She wll finally face what her mother hated so much. The half full keg stood lonely on the table as they left.

*****

The krogan was big, even for his race's standards. But his behavior didn't match any krogan standards. He stood besides a big truck and had his arm casually wrapped around Katarzyna's shoulders. He wore a a grey coloured battle master armor without a helmet. His face wasn't nothing new, a typical facet of a krogan with black plates and white scales. His eyes were something between blue and green.

When they approached him, he let go off Katarzyna and bowed to them.

''You must be the boss. I'm Yunga. Where are we headin' to?''

He extanded a hand and Sinead shook it with disbelief. The krogan smiled broadly as he spoke.

''Sinead here, nice to meet you. We're going to enter Peak 19 from two sides, you'll take the more extanded place here and lead the second strike team.'' He explaned pointing at a holo map that popped out of his omni-tool. The krogan nodded slightly. ''Me and my team will go up the front door. We'll keep radio silence till we reach the main chamber, which will be our randevouz point. I'm sending you the structure plans.''

''What enemy should we expect?''

Yunga sounded really professional now. Chronus stepped forward, towards him.

''The enemy is synthethic, but we don't know if the standard tactics used against security mechs will work, as they are more sopisticated.''

''I see where this is goin'. They're geths, right?''

The mercenaries gathered behind him started whispering. Sinead smiled to himself at the krogan's deductive measures.

''You're right, we expect to face them. Something on the matter?''

The krogan laughed out loud and pounded his chest. It looked almost like coughing.

''No! It's brilliant! In my entire career I haven't had the chance to face only two foes: rachni and the geth. Bring them on!''

''Good. This action will be your proving ground for the Triumvirate.''

Sinead finally found peace within himself. There was at least one thing normal about this krogan. When the alien looked down at his omni-tool they all saw a large round scar at the back of his head. Kala placed her hand where her unmasked mouth would be. It was almost the size of her fist. It also explained his unusual behavior. The giant saw that and he smiled to her broadly.

''Ah! This is my favorite one. It makes me who I am.''

He pointed at the scar and turned over to his group of black armored individuals.

''Alright you lot! Let's kick some silicone butts!''

He roared and entered their transport. Soon Sinead and his group boarded theirs and they all left for Peak 19.

As they drove to their destination, Kala began to question her skills. She was excited and wanted to prove herself, but she was affraid of being shot. When Julliet noticed her concern, she patted her shoulder and smiled to her. That was really reassuring. Then Chronus spoke with a care in his voice.

''You are the lightest armoured one of us, Kala, so stick to Julliet during this mission and you should be alright.''

His black visor turned away from her when he checked his sniper rifle.

''He's right. Her biotics should protect you quite efficiently and add up to your hacking skills. You'll have a chance to find out if you can adjust to a battle pace. Of course if we find any geth to start with.''

Sinead backed him up. She felt reasured and nodded in agreement.

*****

The one hour trip finally ended. They stepped out in front of the big bulkhead which was the front door. The blizzard was really dense and even if they had thick suits, they could feel the cold. They could only see the doors and nothing else through the storm. Kala quickly used the codes which Sinead provided her with and they soon could enter the facility.

It was really silent and the red lights signalled that there was an emergency lockdown of the facility. Most of the interfaces were down. They approached the first door which would lead to the cargo bay. It was deadly silent and only the red lights made the darkness bearable. They silently advanced through the main portion, weapons drawn, looking around curiously, Sinead and Katarzyna up the front and Julliet in the rear.

When they were close to the ramp which lead to the balcony with doors to the inner sections, something gleemed suddendly and vanished.

''What the hell was that?!''

Chronus whispered adjusting his visor to night vision.

Then they heard a grumpy cricking voice and there was the sound of a bump. Katarzyna turned to the source just to notice a bright white lightbulp gaining on her as it knocked her over and coused her to drop her shotgun. She was struggling with a strong and sleek creature and the lamp was obviously It's eye. She tried to punch it out, but it held her wrists and changed the color of the lamp to red.

Then it was knocked off by a biotic throw. The bulb shot a red laser towards a crate ad it turned back to white. Julliet glowed blueishly in the dark when she extended her hand. Sinead and the others pointed their guns towards the creature, but Katarzyna already got to it with her shotgun and fired it multiple times with pauses for words filled with hatred which none was able to understand:

''Zdychaj... Ty... Jebany... Matkojebco!''

The creature was masacred by the continous fire. After the fourth shot they heard the beebing sound of the overheated alarm. The lightbulb blackened out.

Katarzyna was breathing heavily like some sort of a beast. She replaced her shotgun with assault rifle and calmed down.

''What was this crawler!?''

She finally asked. Kala went closer to investigate with a flashlight sported from her omni-tool. She looked stunned.

''It was geth, now It's dead. It must be a new invention for them. I didn't see any blueprints for it when I studied them before leaving home.''

The quarian explained scanning the corpse of the synthethic.

''It looked organic to me.''

Came Chronus's voice. He was scouting the balcony, so he used short-range radio.

''That's becouse it utilizes an artificial muscle technology which quarians used in their younger models, but much more sophisticated. That let him jump so quick and with such power to knock Katarzyna on the floor.''

She managed to say her name without any errors for the first time.

''Let's hope It's just a prototype and at we don't run into more of them. Anything else?''

Sinead raised his voice a bit, as if to show that they can converse freely now. Kala stood up from the geth and prepped her rifle.

''Nothing else. We should watch out for those lasers. If you see a red dot on you, quickly shift position. This technology was known to quarians when we ran.''

''Okay, let's move out and watch out. We must look everywhere to not get ambushed. Julliet, keep the rear. Me and Katarzyna will take the point. Chronus and Kala in the middle position. Shara, you'll back up chrnus just in case.''

The young quarian was intrigued by his commanding skills. She wondered if he got them with the flow or did he took any military training.

The next room were the lockers with envirosuits destined to use with low temperatures. Here they found a body of a scientist. Kala tried not to look. Without any kinetic barriers, a headshot from a geth rifle exploded his head and only the lab coat still said that he was from a science personell. Soon she got to the next door, which required a little hacking to open.

After the door slided, they saw a long glass corridor with red lights on, resembling the garage. On the other end there was a pair of doors going to the left. Some crates littered the hallway as they approached. Before they could get to walk half of it, the next doors slide open and three beings entered the corridor almost immediately opening fire on them.

They were geth, but less muscular than the one encountered in the garage and, from the bloom they gave, they must have been brightly coloured. They quickly dove for cover from the steel crates and discussed a plan. Kala and Chronus were covered by two crates on top of each other and Katarzyna, Shara and Sinead ducked behind the wider, but shorter one. Julliet was somewhere in the back.

''Okay, Shara will put up a stronger barrier and take their attention. Then we concentrate fire on each one of the targets and advance. If we do it correctly, we should...''

Sinead started but didn't end as Katarzyna grabbed an explosive material's container out of nowhere and yelled out:

''Okay, time up! Let's do it! For LEEEEEEROY JENKINS!''

They watched terrified as she ran out of cover and threw the barrel from over her head. Only Kala was quick enough to react and she shot the container when it was right before the geths with a serie from her assault rifle. The corridor was shaken by a loud explosion and Katarzyna turned over covering her ears.

When they got up, two geths were dead, and the third one, without both legs and his left arm tried to crawl away. It was put offline by Sinead who put a bullet right through It's head. Julliet and Chronus just shook their heads at a smiling blonde which was proud of her and was complementing Kala for a well placed shot. Soon they advanced in usual order.

As they advanced through more corridors and minor lab facilities they encountered more geth. This time they were backed up by the prototype LOKI and FENRIS mechs utilizing black armor with Triumvirate's logo on their chests.

''Those bastards hacked the mechs! They were supposed to help us!''

Chronus yelled as he placed another headshot. Even the new prototypes had the same bad habit of exploding when decapitated.

''Kala! Can you try and make something about it?''

Sinead asked impatiently when he got shot in his left shoulder pad. Shara was throwing her biotic pushes along ones utilized by Juliet, but the wave of the mechs just couldn't end.

''I'll try!''

''Do it!''

Katarzyna yelled and begun shooting wildly with her assault rifle. The quarian quickly adjusted her omni-tool for broad frequencies and started her work. First she isolated five of the intact LOKI mechs armed with rifles and ordered them to turn their fire on the geth. Then she entered the security's network and changed the patrol route of the incoming mechs for a far off room on higher levels.

When the fire fight was over, only two of the hacked mechs remained, and one had lost his left arm. It was refitted with a heavy pistol as they advanced. There was a silent armosphere when they entered one of the emergency elevators at the end of the corridor. They preferred to change the level than to face more geths and mechs on the higher levels.

''I hope that Yunga has a better time than we. ''

Julliet said under her breath. All of them were exhausted from these fights and they didn't even get to the main level.

''Rest till you can. We'll have a hard time on the main floor.''

Sinead ordered and sat in the corner of the orange lit elevator.

''What's the plan, chief?''

Chronus asked, breathing heavily in his helmet. The leader looked at him with fire in his eyes, which terrified and at the same time inspired Kala.

''We fight our way to the security centre and restart all of the functions. The damn red lights will turn off and maybe we could get the mechs back under our control. Bah! If we're lucky, which I doubt, we could call in for reinforcements. At least we will gain control over the damned doors and we could cut off those bastards and take them one by one.''

''What about the krogan?''

Shara asked sitting next to him.

''His entrance was far beneath ours, so when we got from the top, he goes from the bottom. If he's smart enough, he'll go up, to the randevouz point. When we regain the control, we should be able to check his position and contact him anyways.''

He said with tired voice which didn't go with his determined stare. He was a man who knew what to do, but he also took most of the toll on his own shoulders to keep the squad safe. Only his orders let them be unharmed up to now, not counting flesh wounds and bruises which didn't even require the application of medigel.

The elevator finally came to a stop and everybody prepped their weapons. They knew that they are at a disadvantage in a tight space like this, so they were determined to move out as quickly as possible.

The first thing they saw after the doors slid open was big. It wore red armor and had the shape of a krogan. And it stood there pointing it's shotgun at them. Soon there was a flash from the barrel but no one died, even if Kala and Chronus yelled out.

The blue transparent wall of biotic origin stod before them with chunks of the fired metal still floating in it. Shara and Julliet stood up front with their hands extended. The krogan stood there in shock as the wall lowered itself and the asari literally jumped on his hunch.

The scene was purely brutal. While the krogan waved his gun to knock her off, the team fired their guns into it's body. Kala stood behind them, aiming at the krogan's head, but after her first shot she stopped. The sight of his skull being punctured and green liquid pouring out of it was terrifing, even if she knew that it didn't hurt him enoguh to kill him. She remembered the shot she gave the slaver on the chest. It wasn't half that gross.

Soon the krogan was down, still breathing but unable to move. Katarzyna put him out of his misery by firing a shotgun in his face from point-blank distance. This time a red blood squirted on her face. Kala shook and tugged her arms around herself. She was shudderig in the corner of the elevator with her pistol on the ground. The team turned to her, bloodthirst in their eyes, even those belonging to Julliet.

''What were you thinking!? Are you nuts!?''

Katarzyna crossed the distance and shook her gripping her arms heavily. The quarian squealed with pain and then Sinead and Juliet pulled the blonde away.

''Give her a break!''

Julliet still had bloothirst in her gaze, but she was trying to protect the girl anyways. Katarzyna almost punched her in the face, but Sinead's left arm stopped her fist.

''Calm down. Kala didn't kill anyone yet.''

Katarzyna lost the bloodthirst and walk up into the corridor. Kala was crying.

''It... It was so different from shooting a geth or a mech...''

Julliet embraced her saying that everything will be alright. Sinead stood up to them.

''I know it's hard on you Kala. But you must regain the grip over yourself. I can't afford to let you have doubts about your actions.''

''My father always said that everythin life is sacred...''

She sobbed. He sighed, but without anoyance. There again was the sadness and compassion in his eyes. He walked up to her and lowered his face to her level.

''He was right. But there are scums that don't know that. Look, do you care about us? We're friends, right?''

She nodded silently, while Julliet losened her grip and helped her stand up.

''You see? I bet that you would do anything to protect the lives of your crewmembers back at the Flotilla. Now we are your crewmates and that krogan wanted to kill us just like those geth before. I know he was alive, but he wasn't better than the synthethics. Killing him was protecting your crewmates. You're not guilty for fighting him. You're a hero. Find your strength. We all know you have it in you. It let you survive without the protection of your suit for more than three days.''

He picked her gun from the floor and rolling it in his hand he gave it to her by the handle.

''You with us?''

She hestitated for a moment, but afterwards took the gun.

''I'll do everything to protect my crewmates.''

''That's the spirit! Now we should blow this station apart with our enthusiasm exclusively!''

Chronus laughed cheerfully and went into the corridor that was now cleared and silent. A dead Triumvirate guard layed in one of the corners, with a totally masacred chest, curtesy of the krogan. Kala looked sadly at him. Sinead took out his nameplate off his chest. Half of it was destroyed but the surname was still readable.

''We won't help him now. If we ran into more corpses, be sure to collect nametags.''

They advanced into another room. It was the mess hall but the main big table was missing as well as the chairs. In the place of it there were strange poles with bodies on top of them, impalled by the chest. The corpses were strange, still sporting armor and lab coats, but the flesh was dried up and blackened. There was nothing on their faces. They sighed at the sight and Chronus quickly removed his helmet and vomited when he turned back.

There were only six poles here but the sight was terrifing. Sinead closed on to the poles and looked up on the closest armored corpse.

''Why do geths do this, Kala.''

''I don't know. I's the first time I've seen this thing.''

The quarian spoke under her breath, shocked by the discovery.

''What exactly did they do to them?''

Chronus tried not to look at the poles and refused to put his helmet back. His voice was lacking the temper that he sported minutes ago. Julliet studied the same corpse with a disgust painted on her face.

''It looks like they drained all the liquids from them and pumped something instead. I have no idea what for.''

She let out her thoughts.

Then the doors on the other side of the hall opened and one geth entered the room. He had it's gun tucked on his back and it was watching into it's omni-tool. When it spotted them they already opened fire at it. The synthethic managed to click something on the hologram before it was nailed to the wall with bullets.

Before they could check if it was really offline, the spikes retracted into their tripodal bases. To their horror, they began moving and started sliding off of the platforms.

Sinead was the first to open fire at them. The undead creature in black armor leaned to him as he sticked his pistols to it's head and fired simultanously. The creature dropped to it's knees and then knocked over, but five more were coming.

They all begun fireing on the husks that approached them. The second armored one stood in front of Juliet and started emanating with electrical energy. She let out

a loud cry and used her push to throw it away.

The geth zombie flew in a straight line and took three more with it. When they hit the wall the flashing one unleashed the energy in a large blast. As it wasn't enough to disable the rest of the zombies, the team concentrated fire on them. Chronus took a headshot at the last standing one. They all breathed heavily.

''Why did the mechs not react?''

Katarzyna asked in annoyance, trying to catch her breath.

''They must've considered them still as the personell. I'll change their program to react properly.''

Kala explained herself and beamed up her omni-tool.

She finished just in time as they heard something that sounded like moaning. Then, from the same doors that the geh emerged, more zombies spawned. They were more numerous than last time and it seemed like they would be flooded.

Then they were saved by an outburst of energy. The zombies become swirled and ripped apart in the biotic warp thrown by Shara. The asari commando changed in their eyes, from a quiet warrior into a bloodshot hunter. She started shooting right into the warp and waved to them.

''You stick behind me, I'll lead from now on!''

She ordered. Everyone followed. Now Kala understood why the asari was always so close to Sinead. They complemented each other on the battlefield. When one grew too tired to move on, the other kept the pace.

They were advancing with the protection of the mechs and both biotic women. Shara carried her role out with utmost devotion.

''Come on! The security room is close! Only three corridors from here!''

She yelled. The unending wave of zombies both armored and in lab coats finally subsided when they reached the main hub. Here was the big room in which they were supposed to randevouz with Yunga. He wasn't here. Up in the wall they could see a big mirror.

''That's the venetian mirror of the security office. We're in the transit station leading into spcific labs. Yunga should be here by now.''

Sinead regained his leadership. Shara petted his shoulder compassionately.

''Let's go in, if we don't get those mechs to help us, we're as good as done.''

She cocked her gun and made her way into the stairs leading to the security room.

They pointed their guns at the doors and waited for them to be opened. The sight was astonishing.

There he was, sitting at the main terminal and drinking something from a tin can. Yunga turned the chair to face them and smiled broadly, and the three Triumvirate troopers turned their heads to them. Their faces weren't so bright. Sinead blamed it on that there were eight of them when he last saw their team.

''What took you so long? We got here about half an hour before.''

''Then why didn't you restart the security systems?!''

Kala asked, with a tired voice. Yunga waved his hand and shrugged it off.

''I'm new here. I didn't had the codes and the station went to emergency lockdown. Besides, it's quiet here and I lost five of my men already. The damned hoppers gave us a thrill. You ran into some?''

Sinead signed him to get off the seat and took his place.

''One. But we had our time fighting the zombies.''

One of the troops, a turian, shuddered at the mention of it. Julliet helped him get up and they took a seat in the far side of the room.

''We ran into some of them but they quickly ended. When the hoppers were out, we encountered some basic troopers. Bastards took three of the soldiers. One died when we first encountered the hoppers and the last one was shredded when a Husk broke through his barriers. The sight was disturbing. They look weak, but the damned thing ripped the poor guy in half with it's bare hands. At least the mechs weren't so tough.''

Krogan's consent was at most disturbing, but Sinead left it uncommented. He ran a quick diagnostic of the systems with Kala's help and he entered the codes. The quarian quickly reprogrammed the mechs to follow the primary programming and adjusted them to clean up the floors out of geth and husks.

Sinead let her take a seat and sat on the console. He watched as on the outside the red lights turned off and were being replaced by normal, white ones.

''How is it possible that they got in so easy?''

''Dunno. They shouldn't. I know they are more sophiticated than your mechs, but the sheer numbers should be efficient to stop them.''

The krogan tried guessing.

''I think I know what hapened.''

Kala turned to Sinead. He raised an eyebrow. She quickly ran her fingers through the holographic keyboard and showed them a screen with an image from the security camera in the room they were in.

They watched silently as the images flashed. The security guards on duty were discussing something and one of them soon got out of the room with two mugs. Shortly after that they saw as something from out of the border of the view fell down. It was the covering of a ventilation shaft. The guard looked up with a terrified face and then the hopper jumped down and pinned him on the console. Then it broke his neck and threw him off of the panel and started typing. Soon the geth shifted it's head in the direction to where the second guard went as if it noticed something. Then it picked up the pistol from the dead security guard and still typing with one hand it shoot towards the doors. Seconds later the footage ended showing the sign NO FEED.

Sinead Rubbed his eyes with one hand and then looked up to the ventilation shaft. He gritted his teeth with anger.

''Damned bastards! Even a salarian couldn't fit in there!''

He complained as he tried to knock off the fatigue. To his surprise, Kala placed her hand on his lap in a comforting gesture. He smiled to her.

Then the alarm sounded. It didn't signal danger, but the incoming transport platform ascending from the depths of the peak. Kala quickly found a feedback from the platform. The view wasn't reasuring.

On the platform there stood a metallis-grey coloured turian with lots of prosthethic implants. He looked different from the spectre she knew, not wearing any colonial tattoos and having a slightly different ridge than Ghost or Chronus. Accompanying him were two towering geths, the red one being smaller and the white one the biggest, as well as some normal sized geths with different colourings: four being white, three red, two black and two grey. There were also two big krogans in silver armor similar to that one that Yunga sported. Chronus leaned over the display and stared closely at the turian.

''I can't believe it! The most wanted individual in citadel space, the rogue spectre Saren Arterius is here in person and he leads his geths.''

''What?!''

Kala sounded surprised. Sinead also took a look at the footage.

''Arterius led an attack on Eden Prime, an Alliance colony in the Verge not long ago, maybe a month ago? The first human spectre, Commander Shepard, proved that to the council and was sent after him. Grey Ghost was so impressed by his work, that he organised us into an unit similar to that of Shepard and soon joined the chase after Saren as soon as we completed our last mission. He found something about him, but in Binary Helix, definitevaly not in SI. I'll explain the details to you when we get out of this. Now prepare a distress call on broad side frequencies that we have him here and send in the mechs. I hope that we can put up with his bodyguards till help arrives.''

''The blizzard will not let us through with the message.''

Julliet complained as she stood up and cocked her gun.

''Send it anyways Kala. Maybe we'll be lucky.''

The quarian quickly did as she was asked and got up, preparing her rifle. The krogan rushed out, and his team did the same. The rest also did the same.

Sinead and the rest stood in front of the security room. The transit room was full of crates and they discussed the best strategy for an ambush. Obviously, the activating of the security systems was a loss to their surprise factor, but still, they weren't detected so far by them. Saren could treat the reactivation as a bug in the system or a protocol of the VI which unlocked the station. Kala noticed two heavy lifters and some volatile containers similar to the one she and Katarzyna used earlier.

''Any suggestions about the defence plans?''

Sinead asked with his full leader act. They had the time to rest, so he took it to regain some of his stamina. Kala stood up.

''I have one. We could use those containers like we did earlier with Katarzyna. We should stock them somewhere safe and throw them at them like artillery rounds. That requires a biotic though and I see that we are at a shortage.''

''Nice plan but as you said, Julliet and Shara will be needed to take down the more potent hostiles.''

The krogan stepped forward with a broad smile.

''When it comes to throwing things with mind over matter techniques, I'm your best shot. I may be a wuss at biotics, but I still can hurl such small things easily. Count me in, artillery chief.''

He bowed to the quarian.

''Good idea. And your superior firepower could be usefull later, when we get to close quarters with the giants.''

Sinead agreed and moved on.

Chronus was meant to be the one who blows up the explosives and Kala was supposed to support the krogan with her techs. Shara got to lead the three-man squad on the close distance, and Sinead with Katarzyna and Julliet were supposed to provide covering fire for them. Everything was set. They just waited for the platform to arrive.

It was the longest ten minutes Kala ever waited. She had a clear view of the central square with less crates and the place where the platform should arrive. From this position she couldn't see Sinead's or Shara's group, but she could see the krogan finishing the stocking of his barrage rounds.

He was completaly covered by the crates. By the link with her omni-tool she would show him the targets seen from the security cameras.

Also Chronus was visable from her point of view, but he would be impossible to be seen from other points. He crawled on top of the security room and hidden in the shadowy gap between the roof and the wall cliff. His sniper rifle sported inferno shells, she was certain of that.

The platform finally arrived and the geth lead by Saren got off. He watched around in amusement that the proper lights were on. Then a shot came. Directed right at his head, but his biotic barrier deflected it. He grinned dangerously before ordering his followers to advance

''Damn! He's got a fucking shield!''

Kala could hear Chronus's yell over the radio channel.

''Fire the artillery!''

Came Sinead's order. The krogan laughed out loud humpering one container, looking at his omni-tool and then hurling it biotically into the air.

''Fireing solution plotted!''

He yelled as he watched the container go. Kala saw how it landed besides the white giant geth and as it exploded besides it's foot. The giant was knocked off his feet and she quickly ran a routine hacking procedure to ensure that it will not get back up quickly. The red one advanced though and she gave Yunga his coordinates. The krogan got tired with the first shot but he soon resumed his preparations. It was bad when he hurled it though, as the rogue spectre protected the red giant with his biotic powers. Leaning over from protection of the crates when he saw the flying containers.

Sinead and his team got up on the highest row of crates and were keeping their heads low not to be discovered too early. When they saw that the red giant below wouldn't be affected by the multiple barrages thrown at him, they decided to open fire. Katarzyna got her rpg and pointed at the red geth's head.

The explosion didn't quite get through the giant's kinetic barriers but it certainly got his attention. To their horror, the giant's weapon proved to be a rocket launcher. Sinead and Julliet jumped sideways, but Katarzyna, who was in the middle had no option as to jump back. The explosion that hit the crates below her hurled her back hard and she hit the other row with her head. She fell down unconscious.

''Man down!''

Sinead yelled as he opened fire from his dual pistols into the glowing head of the giant. Julliet raised her biotic barrier and started shooting into the barrel of the rocket launcher. The weapon exploded, as the bullet penetrated the next rocket which entered the firing chamber, cutting off half of the giant's arm. Then it brutally charged against their hiding place and pulled out one of the crates with his intact arm. They fell down.

Sinead quickly got up and ran to find any cover as the smaller geths opened fire at him. His barrier faltered and he felt a sudden stab at the lower portion of his back. He quickly hid behind a random crate and adjusted medigel to him.

Julliet was more fortunate as she fell behind cover. The barrier couldn't save her from hitting the ground though. She let out a loud cry and crawled away to ensure her safety. Sinead was nowhere to be seen by her point of view. She believed that he could find his way out of the mess. It wasn't long before she leaned out again only to see that the giant was about to kick the crate she was hiding behind.

She dove behind more crates to minimize the risk of being hit by a stray bullet and avoided the blow that the synthethic delivered in the place where she was moments ago with his able fist. She saw that his barriers fell after a shot from Chronus's rifle. She raised her machine gun and started firing right into the synthethic's eye.

She cracked the protective glass and then another sniper shot hit the giant right into the optic. The giant turned his head as if still searching for the source of his blindeness and then another shot hit it in the same spot. It's head literally bloomed with fire and the giant body fell silent on the ground.

''Hostile down. I mean a big one.''

She yelled into the comm and sat for a while behind a crate. She now noticed that one of her glasses's lenses was cracked. She cursed and threw them away, and tried to go around the corner. To her surprise, a geth hopper jumped on one of the crates before her and his lightbulb flashed red as he pointed at her.

''Crap...''

She whispered a second before receiveing the shot. It was off, becouse Chronus shot the geth in the head, but it conducted so much pain, that she fell down uncouncious.

''Man down!''

Kala yelled. The krogan heard it and hurled the last three barrages in random directions. Soon three explosions shook the gound. The geth prime lost it's kinetic barriers and two foot soldiers were dead as well as two stormtroopers. One of the krogans was incinerated when the third barrel exploded

Shara lost one of her comrades to a rocket fired by a stormtrooper. She quickly threw the synthethic off the platform, down the shaft. They were so close to Saren, yet they were pinned down here by his smaller troops. Sinead was nowhere to be seen and by the looks of it, Chronus was busy with shooting tha barrels or keeping Saren down behind one of the crates. When they didn't knew how to advance without any more losses, Kala came with a solution. One of the barrages killed two stormtroopers and hurled the other two and a sniper in random directions.

One of the white geths was trying to crawl away with his weapon, but the asari threw him down the shaft with a biotic push and they advanced. She noticed that one of the barrel killed a krogan that was trying to sneak on them, so she took his still hot shotgun and began advancing with brutal precision.

She was there again, at the day of The Exile. Her friends were dead again and more were supposed to die, but this time she was able to take the fight back to the synthethics. The hymn of war overtook her as she stormed Saren where she found a gap in his guard. He was surprised by her, but didn't let his guard down. They flew several meters back, their biotics swirling around and their bodies tightly clenched around eachother. She felt his talons rip through one of the ridges on her head and she repaid him by plocking out one of his optics. They were in cover now, and he kicked her off of him. Then he stood and tried to shoot at her, but the barrier she sported was too strong.

When he dropped his gun in a challenging gesture she concentrated her will to throw a warp at him, but he only waited for it. He put her into stasis and approached her

with a vicious laughter. Then he put his hands around her neck and started to strangle her. Her eyes rolled back to her head as she couldn't catch a breath and her counciousness fell into darkness.

Before Saren could finish his work, he got a hard punch in the face from one of Shara's men. He was the only survivor, the turian which was scared by zombies. Seing his brethren turn from the righteous path and strangling his commader was enough for him.

Saren recoiled back as he felt another hit, this time from the grip of the turian's rifle. Thn the attacker turned away and grabbing the asari by the collar he started carrying her away. He didn't manage to carry her far as Saren lift him up and then thrown him into the shaft. He then walked to the asari and took the gun from the would be corpse. He then advanced, being finally freed from the sniper.

Kala ran behind Yunga who charged the remaining foot soldiers of the geth. When he decapitated them with his bare arms, he stormed the remaining krogan battlemaster. The quarian noticed that when in the midst of enemy, the krogan's character shifted into an embodiement of his specie's nature. He was brutal, loud and dangerous to surroundings. The two reptiles struggled for a while clenching eachother's fist as Yunga knocked the smaller one's weapon. But then she saw that her comrade was thrown away through the venetian mirror into the security room by a really strong biotic push coming from the battlemaster.

She started screaming continously as she squeezed the trigger and advanced towards the krogan. The alien loked surprised at her sudden rage and didn't act quickly enough to throw a barrier around himself. She was almost by the reach of his hand when the rifle jammed out of overheating. The krogan almost smiled but she threw the weapon away for now and got her pistol out. She dodged his killing blow under his armpit and fired her gun directly into his right eye. She got hit by a wave of his other hand as he roared in pain and she felt her ribs crack. She hit the crates at the far end of the square and felt her head dizzy. The krogan was gunned down by approaching Sinead.

He seemed like a holy figure to her when she saw him through the pain's blur. Approaching in a firery halo around him he practically sticked Katarzyna's rpg right into krogan's mouth and fired it. Then the blur faded away a bit and she regained her hearing. She saw the geth prime on his legs and the wave of his large weapon hefted in a scything way. It scooped up Sinead and smacked him at the closest crate wall.

She quickly got up, ignoring the pain, tears in her eyes, and started running to one of the heavy lifters that she saw earlier. She qot up to the driver's seat and used her omni-tool to fire up the engines. Then she hit the acceleration button and watched as the Prime pointed his armed limb towards Sinead. She hit the honker to distract it. It worked.

The white giant turned his head to her and started shifting it's position to intercept the vechicle, but it was cought half the way. The synthethic tried to reach her as the lifter pushed it towards the edge of shaft but with no resaults.

The monstrous geth and the lifter went down seconds after she jumped out. It wasn't good for her ribs but she endured. A new wave of pain's blur striked her as she ran over to Sinead, struggling to catch each breath. He was unconcious but she knew he was still alive. Maybe he had some injuries, but no blood was pouring out of him and he breathed slowly. He was in a half lying position against the crate wall. She tripped over as she approached him and needed to crawl up to him.

She lied down beside him and breathed painfully. The grenade launcher layed in between them. His eyes were closed behind his cracked visor. She smiled to her own thought, that now they are even, when the ex-spectre emerged from behind the crates. She looked terrified at him.

''How pitiful. A quarian trying to save her human collegue. I have to admit thoguh, that you had the guts to ram the Prime with that lifter.''

Saren crossed his arms and turned his remaining optic on her. He was mocking her.

''Screw... you... You... half... synthethic... bosh'tet...!''

She said through agony and hefting the barrel of the rpg up to him.

''Fiesty one, aren't you? Face it, we won! We are the future of all organics!''

Then a loud boom sounded and his barrier was knocked down by continous fire. She heard him mumble a name before he ran away. She saw the world in a blur and in slow motion. A human approached them. He was clad in a black armor with a red stripe running down his right arm. He checked something on both her and Sinead and started talking or shouting something to his comrade which she couldn't see. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was a quarian girl clad in violet envirosuit that embraced her. And then, there was darkness.

**PS:**

**For those guys who love easter eggs and didn't find everyone, I present full roster here from previous chapters as well:**

**- You-Vid - obviously a knock off of You-Tube.**

**- Cookie - his name is a homage to the doctor Cookie from Disney's **_**Atlantis. **_**Or was it Sweet? dunno**

**- Golun - his personality was based on Kleiner from Half-Life but with the addition of germ-phobia**

**- Palaven Headcrab soup - again, Half-Life**

**- Stern - a reference to Mechanicuum's techpriests from Warhammer 40k universe**

**- Rodo's line about goining with him -Terminator 2**

**- Julliet's appearance - a scientist PC from the boardgame Arkham Horror**

**- Shara's memories of the quarian homeworld - reference to the racist Asari in ME 2 on Illium**

**- Chronus's rifle, the Hood-cutter - it's a more hermetic joke. In Polish lore there existed the character of Longinnus the Upper-heel who sported a long sword which decapitated three teutonic order's knights in one swing. The knight wore hoods and krogan heads resemble hooded ones for me, so I made the resemblance here.**

**- Chronus's name belonged to a Space Marine tank commander in 40k**

**- Chronus's remark about Civil-protection marine Kala with a stunstick is a remark to Half-Life's Civil Protection or Metro-cops which also sported stunsticks and protective masks that concealed their facets.**

**- Katarzyna's battlecry is more a joke carried over from the first death scene in the first ME than from the actual footage of WoW, but I just had to make this reference.**

**Also, as you can see, I utilized the mechs which showed up only in the second part of the series. I branded them prototypes, even though they must've been in serial production by the time of ME, as Jacob's father utilized them on his crash site from past 10 years. That makes them a serial product for over eight years when the first game events take their place. You can also find the Geth prime out of place as well as my imagined Heavy Stormtrooper geth. All I can say is that's just author's happy creativity. Hope you ejoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**


	4. Spectral Alliance

**Author's note:**

**As you'll read this chapter, you will realize what I planned from the beginning: that Shepard and his crew will have an impact on my characters. It is also a measure to show you my own Shepard, as everyone here probably would create their own ones. To be frank with you, for the purpose of this fanfic, I preserved Shepard's 'canon' appearance, name and armor but I'll use the base of my Paragon first Shepard for his acting. I always imagined the canonical Shepard as a mixture of both the hero and the bastard, but caring and compassionate, as a part of the philosophy that he shouldn't become the one he fought. Maybe I'll introduce bonus chapters concerning his POV to show how much this character has indepth possibilities to develop, such as his regret for Saren and growing hatred and determination towards the reapers. As for the main story, giving Sinead a sentimental soul was a special measure to let him reference both 'archaic' music and movies. Most stories and themes in the songs and movies I use for this fiction have the undying meanings towards emotions, humanity and life that are universal. I give out the title of the movie everytime when the action concerning it starts, so just skip it to the next stars if you don't like spoilers.**

**Lost but not Damned**

Spectral Alliance

_He stood before her, his skeletal-like visage obscured by a blue biotic veil. His left eye was missing, but the remaining one flashed with icy coloured fire. He was smiling, and started walking towards her. He grabbed her by her throat and lifted her up. Then, from behind his back, three geth appeared and stuttered in their FTL language. Saren smirked as he turned to them and then he laughed._

_''Yes. Yes, that's a great idea!''_

_Then she saw it. His left hand morphed into geth from the wrist. The transformation proceeded and soon his eye shifted it's place to his forehead. His mouth and mandibles remained the same._

_''All in all, we are their future!''_

_His voice sounded synthethic now. Then he lowered his jaw and swallowed her._

_She woke up._

She got up screaming, but then her ribs gave her the worst pain she ever felt. She began to choke, ironically not being able to stop her sobbing which inflicted more pain. She rolled to her side and saw a door opening, letting in a blindling light. Two shadows ran into the room. She heard a familiarly sounding voice.

''Calm down. It's okay. You're safe!''

The voice was kind and she felt a delicate pressure on her shoulders, as the shadow put her back into lying position. It reminded her oh how her mother put her to sleep when she was still at the Flotilla. She felt tears crawling into her eyes

Her vision slowly adjusted to the light and the pain slowly faded. She saw a young quarian beside her and a human woman in a lab coat.

''Where am I?''

Kala asked, her ribs reminding about themselves with a wave of burning pain. The girl again calmed her down.

''Easy there, try not to talk much. You are on an Alliance ship and in good hands.''

''What about my comrades?''

The pain struck with such force that she could only let out a shriek at the end of the last word. The woman in lab coat handed something to the girl.

''Here, Tali. A strong painkiller. Give it t her, as I see that our young guest won't listen to you. I'll leave you two alone. Try to get her to sleep. Even with the meds it will take a week for her to fully recover.''

The woman sounded a bit tired as she left. Tali quickly found the special port on Kala's neck and ingested her with the painkiller. She was humming silently as she petted her shoulder to calm her.

''Relax. You have three broken ribs. You had luck that they didn't perforated your lungs when you struggled back then.''

Tali got a datapad out of nowhere and she begun reading.

''Wait till the pain goes away and tell me. I'll wait here.''

Then she again started humming. Kala listened in silence. The melody calmed her mind. It sounded so familiar. She knew it from somewhere. As she closed her eyes and hummed in tone with her. Then an image came to her mind. A veiled face covered by a red glass. Mother. Tears crawled up to her eyes as she looked at Tali.

The fellow girl finally looked at her, noticing the second voice. She giggled.

''You know the _Mourn of a Starchild? _''

She asked. Kala nodded in response and didn't stop humming. It looked like Tali enjoyed it and she lied down besides her. It was strange and calming, when they did the song. Tali turned to face her when they ended.

''My mother used to sing it to me to put me to sleep.''

''Same here. Can you answer my previous question?''

Kala looked back at her, talking in half tone to not conduct more pain to her chest. Tali seemed to smile, as she looked through her visor.

''Not sure about some of them. Ask me about a certain one and I'll tell you what I know.''

Tali put her datapad up and showed her some pictures of the people who were on the mission with her.

''I'm Tali'Zorah nar Raaya, by the way.''

Kala let out a sigh at the mentioning of Rodo's birthship and one of the admiral's clanname.

''Kala'Rai nar Idenna. Nice to meet you.''

She almost whispered. The pictures were sliding in between them. She has seen all of the mercenaries which died at the last battle. Then the picture of Yunga slided. Kala raised her first question.

''The krogan was concious when we found him but he broke his leg. He's doing fine, but our krogan is checking on him as for the rest of your concious teammates. We almost killed him, mistaking him for an enemy, but it ended up peacefully.''

Kala found it strange that they also sported a krogan on their ship, but she nodded to her to slide in the next picture. This one belonged to Chronus.

''This one was our liason. He was fully unharmed when he approached us and he let out all the basic information about your team just to ensure that we help you. He's still interrogated by our captain.''

Next picture. Katarzyna.

''She has cracked her skull but it was just a flesh wound. No irreparable brain damage. When she woke up she has knocked unconcious four of our marines. She's detained with the Krogan and the rest.''

Another one, this time it was Shara.

''She has suffered some brain damage from the oxygen shortage. She was lucky that when we found her, she was already breathing. Doctor Chakwas says that she should recover, but she's still unconcious.''

This time, Sinead's face showed up. Kala let out a loud sigh. Tali noticed it, but went on with the report.

''This one was lucky. He had a serious spinal cord injury. To say the least, more than half of one bone was literally shattered to pieces. Doctor Chakwas has spent almost three hours trying to save him. She got it right and he will not suffer, but he's got a synthethic replacement for that segment. He's someone important?''

She asked. Kala laid there silently for some time before answering her. Her voice was still weak and trembled by the hearing of his near crippling experience.

''He's my captain for the time being. He saved me several times. Why do you ask if he's important?''

Tali sat up and turned to face her.

''When me and my commander got to you, you were trying to protect him and refused to let go of his arm. ''

''Keelah! I don't remember that.''

''You were in a shock. It's natural. He's an important friend to you, so probably when your subconsciousness took over, you acted instinctively.''

''Can I see him?''

''He's still unconcious and you need to recover at least a day. The regenerative procedure is quite strict when it comes to this kind of injuries. It was hard to sterilize the laboratory for your operation. Doctor Chakwas did her best but if you feel ill, note me.''

Kala nodded in silence. Tali giggled to her amusement.

''He seems more important than you admit. He's really special to you, doesn't he?''

''What!? No! Keelah! I only know him from last week!''

She yelled and felt that her ribs are still rough.

''It just looked like that. Maybe you're not thinking of him like I thought, but he's still special to you.''

''Let's talk about you. You said your name was Tali'Zorah. Are you related to admiral Rael'Zorah?''

She snapped back. Tali lowered her head and let out a sad sigh.

''Yes, even if he sometimes doesn't show it. He's my father.''

Kala noticed the sad tint in her voice and droped the subject. Somebody flashed in her mind.

''There was one more person in my squad, a red haired woman.''

''Oh! The pretty one? She had the least injuries, although when we found her she was in a bad shape. She won't use her left hand for some time, the left clavicle was punctured by the geth sniper shot. You should've seen her when she wanted to defend herself. She lost lots of blood but she's fine now. In the cargo bay.''

Kala gigled when Tali shared her opinion about Julliet's appearance.

''What?''

''I think she's cute too.''

''Yeah, I'm envious. But could you tell me what have you been all doing down there? How did you know about Saren? I thought that even after he's been expelled from the Spectres nobody really knows him.''

Kala twitched at the mentioning of the rogue Spectre. She tilted her head to her.

''I'm not sure if I can tell you specifics. I'm new to the crew and I'm not sure what they say to me is confidential.''

''Oh give me a break! You know who I am! You can't obviously suspect that I'll give out dangerous information.''

''They are my crew now, Tali'Zorah, and they trusted me. You should know best that I can't tell you. All I can tell you, is that we are not against Citadel Laws.''

''Commander Shepard won't be pleased by that attitude, but I respect your decision. You act as a real quarian would, Kala'Rai.''

Kala didn't notice her complimenting her and tried to remember where she heard the name she just heard.

_...in order to back up Shepard! He's all alone out there...!_

_Grey Ghost... Shepard!_

Kala suddenly got up and started coughing. Tali quickly wanted to put her down to a laying position, but the other one grabbed her shoulders with much force. Tali let out a yelp.

''I must talk to him! Shepard! The Spectre, right?''

''Yes... wha...''

''We work for one... He wants to... help...''

The pain took over, as if the painkiller never was ingested. She fell down on the ground and started to inhale the air heavily. The doors slid open and the doctor ran inside with a syringe. She quickly handed it to Tali who injected it properly. Soon Kala fell asleep.

*****

Commander John Shepard sat in the infirmary and looked at the two mercenaries they had intercepted on Noveria. Human and asari, both in a rough state. They were lucky that the distress signal got to his team in the neighbouring Peak moments after they got to the Mako lander.

He had his doubts though. His ground team consisting of Wrex and Tali was exhausted and the rachni gave them the fight of their life. He still considered his decision to release the queen risky, but he was a human, and his human compassion made the decision for him.

The sight of Saren, fleeing from his team and the mechs security force was reasuring though, and he already thanked them for that in his thoughts. Still, they posed a possible threat to his crew and thus he kept them under guards with suppresion weapons.

Now he was sitting in the chair that normally doctor Chakwas occupied. She was out to check the other captives. Then Tali ventured in, helping her quarian brethren walk into the room. Two days lasted since the girl informed him what the other one said.

The quarian in grey suit was staggering, but she tried to stand straight. When they entered the room she was looking around and when she saw one of the captives, the human still kept asleep, she tried to walk in his direction. Tali stopped her and seated her in front of the commander.

They examined eachother for a brief second. Her ''hairstyle'' resembled a faraohnian cloth to him and her night black visor almost completely veiled her face. She was slim compared to Tali and a bit taller. To her, on the other side, he didn't resemble anyone she knew. He had deep blue eyes and a buzz cut with a similar in lenght facial hair. The black armor with a red stripe has striked her. She remembered it from before she blacked out during the fight with Saren.

Finally the commander spoke. His voice a mixture of a rough, battlescarred warrior and a compassionate being.

''I heard that you wanted to see me and talk about something. I'm all ears.''

''Are you Commander Shepard?''

She asked nervously, trying to avoid eye-contact.

''Yes. So, what is it? The turian from your unit didn't want to give us more than names and the name of your ship and your emloyees, the Triumvirate.''

''You should hear it from my captain, but he's lying over there. I think I should tell you, becouse you are the soul purpose of our mission.''

''And what is it's goal?''

''To help you.''

Shepard got silent and thought over what he heard.

''Why?''

He finally asked. She tilted her head.

''I'm new so I don't know the details, but the group which hired me was in turn, hired by a Spectre by the codename Grey Ghost. He is apparently very happy to see the first human Spectre and he was eager to help you on your mission to track down Saren.''

''Then why didn't the others tell me that?''

She hestitated for a moment and then she found an answer.

''Have you introduced to them? I got your name from Tali'Zorah.''

''That could be the case. I thought that giving out my name to captives was dangerous. Right, Tali?''

The girl chuckled and went to the table with the asari commando. She was running a scan of her body.

''I want to believe you. There is no way for you to forge this as you had no contact with your other teammates, but I must check your story. I hope the Council will have a say in this.''

''Commander... I...''

She hestitated, too late, as the words already got to his ears.''

''Yes?''

''I wanted to thank you for rescuing us.''

''We'll see if there is anything for you to thank me. I must check your story first.''

''Thank you anyways.''

Then the commander bowed to her politely and got out of the medical ward.

Kala and Tali were left alone. The other girl patted her shoulder comfortingly and asked her to help her change the asari's position. They started humming the same melody from two days ago as Tali started cleaning the patient's face with a sponge. They were terrified when they found out that Shara also started humming.

''She's awake?''

Kala thought out loud. Shara slowly sat on the table and her lips started moving on their own. She still had closed eyes and it looked like a trance. Both girls listened in awe as the lyrics of the song dripped from the asari's lips in pure quarianese:

_''Let us offer up to the light that's in our hearts_

_An old tale of a star which awaits it's awakening_

_Our wishes become children which can see tomorrow_

_My love, please wait for me..._

_The face of my destined one is hidden in my mind's eye_

_Let us ignite the light which protects our dreams_

_The stars inform me to chose only one_

_If my chosen one calls to me, I'll make my mind..._

_Let us shoulder the light of our ancestors's life_

_what we just became for our own, pure child_

_Go to sleep in the arms of the one you love_

_who in order for you to become a star,_

_should never be born...''_

Then her eyes opened as her body covered in a biotic barrier for couple of seconds. They were pitch black, as if she was conducting bonding with someone. She watched them with tears forming in her eyes. The sight of Kala calmed her down but the tears ran down her cheeks anyways.

''How... How do you know that song?''

Tali asked curiously. Kala stood next to the biotic and embraced her silently.

''I was the first one to sing it, child of the fleet.''

''What?''

Kala asked surprised.

''Long time ago, I lived on Rannoch, your kind's homeworld. I was there, when the geth uprising reached it's epitaph and I left it onboard of one of the first vessels that formed the later Migrant Fleet.''

''Unbelievable!''

''Did you wrote this song?''

Kala asked, shifting her position to be closer to Sinead. Shara smiled a bit.

''No. My friend, a quarian spacer by the name Raza'Koris wrote it. She was a great poet, but she was despised by many of her people for her beliefs. Even I had problems with what she believed.''

''She wrote that lullaby?''

Tali was surprised to hear a familiar name.

''It wasn't a lullaby. It was a mourning song of a mother who lost her child. But the song isn't about her child. It's about quarians and the geths.''

They both were shocked.

''What?!''

Shara closed her eyes again, tears began to run on her cheeks again.

''She loved the geth as any mother would love her child. She knew that her race's survival was most important then, but yet, she couldn't believe that plain fear from her people deemed their creations to turn against them. We left on the last starship from Rannoch. I was a simple, young accountant back then and she was a captain of one of the biggest ships. She didn't get to Admirality Board and her people despised her for the song she wrote. When there was my time to leave the Migrant Fleet, she was mourning, that her song's meaning was changed. I didn't care back then, despising her for making me sing it in front of quarians. Now I regret that.''

Kala hugged her reasuringly. The asari didn't respond, still with black eyes. Tali looked shocked when she sorted her datafiles. The person before her remembered her ancestors's exile and was a friend of someone who was sympathetic to the geth back then. So this wasn't a new trend, she thought to herself.

''Stay put. I'll inform the doctor that you woke up.''

She quickly left the room.

Shara looked confused. She laid down again and closed her eyes. Soon she started breathing regulalry and Kala guessed she fell asleep. The quarian got to Sinead's bed than and looked at him.

He was stripped from his armor and his artificial limb laid at the operating table, separated from the port at his left armpit. Kala was close to tears when she saw it. He looked harmless without it. Then doctor Chakwas appeared with Tali.

The doctor stood before the alien and examined her thoroughly. She was rather annoyed to see something else than the quarian reported to her.

''So she was awake?''

''She responded to our questions and sat on the table. She even sang a song!''

Tali explained in a way a child does, when it tries to prove it's right.

''That's true. And her eyes were completaly black, like if her irises extended so much.''

Kala nodded.

Doctor Chakwas examined the asari's eyes by pulling up her eyelids and flashing a light into them. Then she checked the readings of brain activity on her omni-tool.

''I'm no expert in asari physiology but if I remember correctly, this is a rare reaction to brain damage. She must remap her synapses to regain full control. Any asari should be enough for it, so we must wait till she wakes fully. Now sorry, I must tend to the biotic girl. She's got a nasty infection.''

*****

Shepard stood before the holographic trio of the councilors. He didn't like to admit it even to himself, but they pissed him off. Especially after last time on Therum, when they fully discarded the fact that Liara was a living being and should be treated properly. He ordered Joker to cut off the comm then.

Still, he knew how important they were. As much as they neglected any real help to him, they had the one true goal which he could not deny: security of the Citadel space. The possible help from another Spectre was reassuring.

He proceeded with the report from Noveria whithout mentioning the action at Peak 19. The turian councilor was outraged with his decision to spare the rachni queen. At times like this, Shepard was almost certain that a guy like him was the first one to spread the genophage on krogans.

He wanted to cut off the comm again, but he restrained himself as he had more urgent matters to discuss.

''Is there anything more that Commander Shepard would like to add to this meeting?''

The asari councilor finally asked. He drew a large breath.

''At Noveria I encoutered a mercenary group fighting Saren Arterius. He fled without a trace, but we got the reminders of the group. I was told, that they work for a Spectre by the name of Grey Ghost on a mission to stop Saren. Why wasn't I informed about another Spectre sent after him?''

They seemed moved.

''Operative Grey Ghost asked as for information on how to help you, commander, but we denied his request.''

The asari spoke with neutral tone.

''We honestly believe in your skills and we decided that the mission to track a rogue spectre could be done by you solely.''

This time the salarian spoke with a carefully adjusted complimenting tone. The turian councilor was as hotheaded as always when he said:

''Grey Ghost is operating on his own. He sends his reports but he disobeyed a direct order.''

''If I remember correctly, you said that you just delayed his request.'' Shepard said before the turian could say anymore. '' Besides, the simple fact that he wants to help is more than the council did up to now.''

''Why you...''

Shepard was proud to see him get angry. It was childish, but it worked. Yet, the asari interrupted the outburst of anger.

''Please, let's not jump to conclusions. Maybe Commander Shepard is right? After all we gave him full authority on the completion of his team. Why not let him include a fellow Spectre?''

He owed her one. The turian settled down and thought it over. The Salarian instead, offered the transmission link to Grey Ghost's communication frequency. The meeting was adjourned and Shepard could breathe easily now. He just needed to make one more call to confirm the information with his fellow Spectre and that bunch could be finally trusted.

The sight he saw wasn't really that reasuring. He saw another turian, with his body clad in bright armor and his facial markings being the same that the turian assassin sent after Tali sported. The Spectre was sitting at some kind of a table and he looked surprised to see him.

''Shepard? Is that really you?''

Shepard smirked. There was something in a shape of admiration in the other's voice. He crossed his arms and looked as the Spectre stood up.

''Grey Ghost?''

The Spectre nodded in response. Shepard let himself a relief.

''Yes, it's me alright. One little bird has chirped out that you want to help me.''

''I heard you were on Noveria, but I didn't believe it. Yes, I want to help, but how did you know? The council took it's toll to seperate me from you.''

''From a quarian girl hired by you. She said that you are gathering a similar team to mine. Looking at the guys I picked up from Noveria, you know what you're doing.''

''That one wasn't hired by me, but by one of the top specialists I gathered. Anyways, I'm glad she has a loose tongue, as you humans say. I wanted to find you and help you.''

''Why a turian Spectre would like to help me, a human, track down another turian Spectre?''

''Saren is a traitor to our kind and the Council. He must pay. Besides, not everyone of us is racist. As I hear you have my men in your grasp. If you would be so kind to return them back to me, I would share everything I gathered on the bastard with you.''

''Where and when?'

''In Fortuna system there is a space station orbiting the planet Amaranthine. It has a dry dock. Our ship is right there at the moment and will stay there for resuplying, since you have our captain. I'll be waiting here for you to arrive. Find the ship _Flotilla's Pride _there. Then we will meet on neutral ground which you will choose. Okay?''

''Sure. Be sure there aren't any tricks about it or I'll won't be so nice.''

''Sure thing. I would do the same.''

*****

Kala stood firm when the doctor injected Sinead with something that was supposed to wake him up. The Chakwas woman leaned back to work with her report and she left the explaining to the young quarian.

She sat down besides him and waited patiently for his awakening. She felt a wave of warmth when she saw his eyelids twitch and slowly open. He covered his eyes with his only hand to avert the blindling lights and got up slowly. He was in a better shape than she had anticipated.

''Kala? Where are we?''

He asked when his eyes finally adjusted to the spectrum. She smiled under her mask.

''We are on a ship called Normandy. Commander Shepard is the captain here. A lot happened when you were asleep.''

''Tell me. Where's my arm?''

''Here, on the table. They had unarmed it from all those weapons you hid in there. Speaking of which, that was a full arsenal. I didn't expect that arm to be that spacious.''

''Yeah, I have a way with my body. Can I have it back?''

He asked the doctor when he realized she sat besides his artificial limb.

''Sure. You'll get your weapons back when we get to Fortuna system.''

The doctor seemed really tired. He got up and reconnected his artificial limb in it's place. He always hated being dependant on this type of machine, feeling like a cripple.

''Can I get a debrief of what exactly happened?''

His voice was a little trembling when he saw the sleeping asari, someone he had missed out when he got up. Kala sat beside him on his bunk and explained the situation to him. He wasn't really that happy to know how did she contact Commander Shepard, but he agreed that it was worth the risk. Grey Ghost would finally stop pusuing the human Spectre and act as one should.

''What's the problem with Shara?''

He asked, partially both the women in the room. Doctor Chakwas just ended her report and tuned to him. Kala noticed that he cocked his eyebrow when he saw her face. She decided that the aging woman must've been pretty to him.

''She's got a minor brain damage. Her reflexes will be shortened a bit and she's got a rare damage resistance syndrome. Remaping of her primary synapses with another asari should minimize the damage and erase the syndrome. How do you feel? I still haven't recovered from your operation. That geth giant hit you hard.''

Sinead shrugged and scratched the back of his head with his synthethic limb. He looked quite good but there was pain lingering in the corners of his eyes.

''My back kinda' itches and I feel some stiches there. I have a headache, but I blame it on the bump I got. And there's still the wound on the right side, courtesy of the geth shocktroops.''

''You had luck. One segment of your spinal cord was literally shattered. You have a fake one now that will heal with time and cover with bone. Good as new, you could say.''

''Great. I'm becoming more of a cyborg with every day.''

He laughed. Kala didn't understand how it would be funny, so she guessed that it's a culture difference.

''How about you? How hard were you hit?''

She was stunned by the question. He actually cared for her. No, he cared before, this thought must've been conducted by the conversation with Tali'Zorah. She hestitated with her answer long enough for him to ask is she okay. She blushed under her helmet and shook her head.

''No, I'm okay. I had three broken ribs, but I can function normally now. Mostly.''

He petted her shoulder and smiled.

''Good to hear that we survived the first encounter mostly unscarred.''

The doctor chuckled and smiled for the first time.

''You have an Alliance's spirit, boy. I think that you and Commander Shepard will get along well.''

*****

It was late. Most the crew were on their sleep rotaton but the marine guards were still on duty when she entered the mess hall. Chronus was behind her, walking in carlessly. It amazed her. Only a day and a half passed since they were released from the cargo deck and he already felt at home. She took a place in front of a guy with nice looks. Chronus took out a bottle of water and sat on the opposite side of the table.

The guy looked at her with curiosity when she took her seat. He was just finishing his meal. The sight of her made his jaw drop for a second. She smiled. He must be the naive type and he is astonished, she thought to herself.

On the other side, the Alliance soldier was really impressed. The red-head had a killer figure and grace to go with it, and her looks were also astonishing. Her brownish eyes had a certain depth to them. Even if her makeup being torn by some days of toll, she looked great. Her smile made him uneasy, the tension rising.

''Hi.''

She finally said with a seductive voice. Chronus chuckled to himself in his thoughts. That was her usual play on men, and most of them fell for it. He wouldn't admit it, but he had fallen for it long ago. Now he observed the guy with curiosity. The fun was just starting.

''Hi.''

He answered, trying not to look her into her eyes.

''Since we were realeased of your commander's custody, I thought that I should get to know the guys that work on the same job. I'm Julliet Mc'Anduin. Nice to meet you.''

She said and leaned forward. He thought that she was part scottish, but it was only her accent. Now he almost dropped his spoon when her chest became better exposed. She wore normal lab outfit now, but he always found it strangely kinky. Now he knew why.

''Erm... Yeah. I'm Lt. Kaidan Alenko, Alliance military.''

This time her jaw dropped. Chronus almost choked with the water. He knew of the guy and his past, so he quickly got up and went into the far corner of the room, confusing the lieutenant.

''What?''

Julliet was shaking a bit. The memories. Vyrnus almost torturing the kids, the fear, the satisfaction when she heard he was killed. And the sorrow and feeling of betrayal when they just closed the programme and sent her home, to the parets that hated her. Just becouse the man before her couldn't hold himself back.

''I know you lieutenant. And you should've known me. We were in the BaAT programme together. You were the senior student.''

She tried hard to keep her act together. He cocked an eyebrow and thought deeply before starting to appologize.

''Sorry, but I didn't catch your name back then. It wasn't quite the pleasant experiance for me.''

''To none of us. After you killed Vyrnus , Me and most of the kids were dropped out. Like rubbish.''

''It wasn't my fault! I was defending myself, you know!''

He sounded cornered now, that he raised his voice a bit.

''Calm down. You couldn't possibly think about the lives you'll ruin by killing him. Yet, I can't blame you really. Thanks to that, I have my four certificates as the youngest student at Citadel's University. Still, the bad memories remain the same.''

''Not a good start, if I can say so.''

''Don't worry, lieutenant, I won't start a fight here with you. I just wanted you to know.''

Chronus emptied his bottle and threw it into the garbage disposer and then he walked out.

*****

It was strange for him to meet such a different guy. He was way bigger and he could easily rip anyone here besides him to shreds, yet he remained calm and cheerful, something totally awkward for his fellow krogans. It irritated him a bit.

Wrex wasn't happy about the new guy on board. His instincts told him that this was something of a territorial issue, but he struggled his mind to control the urges. The fact that he couldn't find any clan markings on him and that he refused to say which clan was he from didn't make it easier. The only thing that bugged him was the tattoo on the guy's forehead, sporting a nuke mushroom cloud in the center and seven rays coming out of it.

Yunga, on the other side was delighted with the attention that he drew. He was still considered a suspicious element, even if the commander lifted him off it. He also couldn't travel to the higher deck becouse of his size. Normandy was human-turian sized, not overgrown krogan size, after all.

He was really happy when he saw Kala coming from the elevator to visit him. She was the living witness of one of his better battles, even if he lost it in the end.

''Artillery chief! I missed you!''

He stood up and stretched his arms like if he was going to embrace her. Wrex dropped his jaw and turned away disgusted. He didn't have anything against quarians, as Tali became his combat buddy, but the sight of his brethren acting so cheerfully to another species was enough for him.

Kala held him back, explaining her condition but she let out a giggle when he got a sad face. He soon cheered up when they started reminiscencing the last battle. She was adored by his rather childish happiness and his compliments about how good her artillery markings and her backup were. Wrex was surprised to hear that the slim quarian took one of his brethren head on when the bigger krogan got swept away.

''How's the boss? When they got us onto this ship I saw him in a rather rough shape. The asari also looked bad.''

Yunga finally asked. She smiled under her helmet. He was so different from those bloodthirsty krogans she met before. The regular ones intimidated her by their sole presence, while this one made her only want to hug him.

''They're okay. Sinead is awake and he wants to talk with the commander. Shara is still in half-sleep. She got roughed up by Saren but she should recover soon.''

''That's good. I want to fight alongside them a couple of times more.''

She giggled. Even if he was the calm and kind giant, he still loved to fight, like most of the krogans. She looked at his tattoo and it intrigued her.

''Nice tatt. What does it symbolise?''

''This one? I had it made after one of the battles during Rachni Wars. I was the sole survivor of my group who went into the hive to kill the queen. I think it was somewhere around Hawking Eta cluster, but I have a problem with memorizing such things. Curtesy of this.'' He pointed on the round scar at the back of his head. '' I killed the queen by cutting her head off and I placed a nuke in her intestines, for the reminder of the hive not to find it. I killed almost seven million Rachnis down there. Hence the seven rays.''

The part about the head and the intestines threw her back a bit, but she understood it for a natural thing for krogans. Plus, if this was true, then he was a hero of the galaxy.

''But you said you missed the chance to fight rachni when we first met.''

''I did? Erm... Dunno, the only memory I have with this tattoo is that one with the queen. And the Nuke. Maybe I nuked a colony somewhere during the rebellions? Don't remember.''

She was confused. This on the other side would make him a war criminal. Yet she decided to change the subject.

''How about your scar? Your favorite that is.'' She explained herself when she saw that his right 'brow' had a deep scar like from a scratch of knife.

''The big one? I got it about a century ago. I got shot in the head during a bar-fight. The guy was another krogan. He pissed me off then and we started the brawl. That sucker was a dirty cheat when he pulled out a handcannon from his sleave.''

''That's horrible!''

She pretended to sound disgusted, but she couldn't find anything that would match the Krogan's natural attiude better than that. Yunga smiled and carried on:

''Everybody thought I was dead and they just took me to the morgue. I awakened there and scared the crap out of one of the salarian's morgue workers. Sine then, I started growing rapidly to this size and became much calmer. I even once went to the doctor's and he said that I had a one in a million luck. The bullet took out small brain portions responsible for continous adrenaline production and such. I still can get angry and beat the crap out of anyone, thanks to my gargantuan size but it takes much more effort.''

''So what did you do for a living when you've found your peace?''

''Killing people for money was still an easy job. Finally I wanted to find a calm routine job, like your security company. After the headshot, and when my brain cleared out off unneeded adrenaline, I begun to think more clearly. I soon started reading books and such. This was so much different to my previous life. I suffer from minor memory loss, but it's better this way. You'd be suprised how big intellectual potential krogans have, and how much of it is dominated by adrenaline and instinctual behaviors.''

''You are a perfect example, Yunga.''

She giggled and left him alone. The looks that the gunnery chief and Wrex gave her were discouraging. She decided to visit Tali in the engineering room.

*****

Chronus sat in the mess hall when Julliet vanished somewhere with Alenko. He had the perverted idea how would they sort out their differences, but he knew that Julliet would smack him if she found out. Yet he knew that this outcome was possible, knowing what his hidden surveillance cameras in her room had showed him many times. He even thought of investing in a cheap porn extranet site with her vids, but if she were supposed to find out, he knew that she'd kill him.

''Gosh, I'm a pervert, aren't I?''

He sighed to himself.

''Tell me.''

The sudden sound of a turian voice startled the spec ops agent. Garrus, the guy in C-sec uniform sat in front of him.

''I must stop speaking to myself.''

He mumbled under his nose and waved his hand for a hello.

''Nothing much. I run the security protocols when I'm at my ship. I sometimes get rather kinky materials from the cams I hid all over the ship.''

''Nice. Bending over the rules huh?''

''I _am _the rules when it comes to security.''

''Huh, quite the type of job I would like to handle.''

''Yeah, I remember my time in the military and C-Sec.''

''Oh, so you're an ex-officer? How quaint.''

''Yeah. I always declined the rules whenever I could. I was a bad turian. Really bad. That's why they sorted me into the intel and black ops. I joined C-Sec in hopes that I could use my skills against criminal rings. I got the patrol work instead. I quickly left and become an information broker. That's how I got recruited. End of story.''

''Nice. I worked as a detective, a work of passion you could say. But I got less action and more paperwork with each promotion. The way the C-Sec and Council treated me when I was investigating on Saren was the last drop. I went rogue and found out a person who had the evidence that lead to Saren's guilt. Even then the Council dismissed the true nature of his betrayal.''

''You got me interested. What is it, if I may ask?''

''Shepard had a vision conducted by a prothean artifact found on Eden Prime. It showed a race of great synthetics race called the Reapers eradicating protheans. Before we found the evidence, I could understood them, but when both Saren and his follower mentioned about them in the evidence, and it was in geth's data banks, it was undeniable.''

''An ancient race of synthethics? Good to know. Grey Ghost didn't know about this part. The damned council wants to end Shepard's mission quickly and without any trespassers.''

''Good to know that there are guys like you who want to help. Shepard took his toll when the Council rejected his point of view. Now we know that we are not alone.''

''Knowing is half the battle, huh?''

Chronus smirked. He enjoyed the conversation and Garrus seemed like a good buddy to hang around with.

''So what's the other half?''

''I don't know yet, but I bet that it consists lots of big guns.''

They both laughed.

''Makes me remember those old times. Back in the military.''

''Those were the best for me. Didn't had the moral problems with shooting a dangerous vessel.''

''Do tell. I love old stories!''

Garrus leaned back in his seat. The blue tattoos on his face seemed to reflect the orange light. The old colony traditions. Chronus sighed to himself remembering how his father was pissed about that he made himself a facial tattoo. He still laughed as he didn't know what was worse to him: the fact that he did it, or the fact it was assimetrical. That old blank-face.

''There was this case about a doctor who took in poor people and experimented on them... Saleon was his name'' Garrus finally said as he straightened up his back. ''He grew organs in them to sell them on black market. If the organs were faulty, he left them in, making them into a typical meatbags. I ordered the C-Sec to shoot down his ship when he attempted escape but they disobeyed as he had hostages''

''Too bad. That's what I like in black ops: you chose who to kill or spare.''

''That's the point! The bastard ran away before I could track him. I want him dead, but I have no leads.''

''I'll do some research if you want. Dr. Saleon, right?''

''Yeah. Thanks. I apreciate that.''

''Treat it like a peace-offering. Our first encounter was a bit rough.''

''Yeah...''

''I want only one thing in return, Garrus.''

''What?''

''Tell me a kinky story from your life.''

''Well, okay. Geez, you are a pervert after all.''

*****

Sinead sat in the commander's quarters and waited for Shepard to arrive. He contemplated Normandy's design with a mixture of awe and disgust. As a civilian, he didn't quite like the military's minimalistic designs, but he was sure that it provided more safety to the crew, as random objects wouldn't kill them if sent flying. He still preferred his sterile room back on _Flotilla_'_s Pride _though.

The commander arrived shortly after he became bored with waiting. He still wore his N7 armor but he seemed more relaxed now. He was a little surprised to see his guest in his room so quickly after he asked him to come by, but he quickly regained his grip on the situation.

''I hope I didn't make you wait for too long. I'm Commander John Shepard from System's Alliance. ''

''Sinead Card. My pleasure.''

The commander sat on his bed and browsed through some files on his omni-tool.

''I heard that you are the second in command for your Spectre. That's a tough job, isn't it?''

''Yeah. He wants to make me the second human Spectre. I'm not really into it, but he knows how to make someone believe in his couse.''

''Spectre status is overrated. Trust me.''

''Yeah. What did you wanted?''

Shepard sighed and finally turned off his tool. His looks were a bit tired.

''I spoke with your Spectre. You and your group can travel whole the Normandy except for the core and CIC. With the exception of your quarian techie. I want to know, if your intentions are true. Will you provide help with finding Saren?''

''That guy cost my company over three dozen good men at Peak 19 and he almost killed off my specialist team. It's personal now.''

''I hope that your hunger for revenge won't endanger the mission.''

''Don't take me for a typical scumbag merc. I want him dead. It's either done by your team or Grey Ghost's. It doesn't matter which one to me. Of course I would be glad to be the one who gets him, but I don't have anything against somebody else doing the job.''

''Good to hear. Speaking of which, please tell me, did you recruit your team strictly by my 'team roster'?''

''It was pure coincidence. Grey Ghost knew you had a quarian in your team, but the idea of recruiting mine and our krogan was purely my invention.''

''Funny. Coincidences like this make us think about fates and destinies.''

''Yeah. How did you get your aliens?''

''Besides Dr. T'soni all of them were recruited on Citadel. Garrus was in charge of the inquiry around Saren, Wrex was after one of his leads, and Tali was a thorn in the bastard's plan. It pretty much went out in one streak. How about you?''

Sinead shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

''Chronus was brought in by Ghost. He is supposed to be an ex-military black ops officer. Shara, my asari second in command, was a person I met during one of my mercenary adventures.''

''Interesting. How was it?''

''I was hired as a bodyguard for one bastard. Mean old volus, but he paid quite good and back then, we needed money. Then Shara showed up one day killing his security team. I offered her a bloodless duel over his life. I kinda lost, when she broke both my leg and the now non-existant arm. Yet she paid us for his life and sticked around for couple of days. We even had an affair but nothing for too long.''

''Love that bloomed on the battlefield, huh? I heard that term somewhere. But what about the krogan and the quarian?''

Shepard was getting more and more inquisitive. His conversation partner didn't had any choice but talk.

''Funny thing. Yunga was recruited into my security company by his application. As for Kala... Well, she was a slave and when I found her she was in a real bad state. So I rescued her. She joined us giving out her pilgrimage for a reason, but I think it's just that she's a nice girl and she wants to compensate me for my effort. Or both.''

''You said _we _before_. _Who's the other one?''

''That, commander, is a secret.''

He waved his finger and closed his eyes. The conversation was over.

*****

Shara sat in the backroom of the medical ward. Katarzyna was here with the other asari, and Sinead stood in the doors. They both looked curious.

''I'm not a medic, but this is a basic procedure when you study biotics in my culture. It will succeed.''

''Still, I want you to be gentle with her, okay?''

The one armed man sounded curious.

''She's the one who put our main team together. She _must _recover. Understand?''

The blonde woman sounded intimidating and Liara felt cornered by her. She sat before Shara and looked closely to her face.

The asari before her was in the matron stage of her life and it surprised her to hear that she's still a commando. It felt unusual. The dark blue colored facial tattoos she wore resembled the open mouth of a varren and this was possibly their origin. Her almost red eyes looked really intimidating, even if they looked half-concious.

She touched their cheeks and embraced her to let their nervous systems connect. The other asari reacted to it and her eyes blackened entirely, understanding what information Liara has sent.

''Prepare to embrace eternity...''

Liara's eyes darkened too and the two sat there motionless. For Sinead it looked so much different when he saw the connection from the other side. His sessions with bondng use that Shara provided to him were so much different, almost spiritual compared to this act. For the first time he saw this thing without any emotional tint and it disturbed him.

Soon Liara let Shara go and observed her reactions. Her eyes became normal as they regained their focus. She looked around and noticed her friends.

''What happened?''

She asked with a weak voice. Liara pushed her gently on the bed and stood up.

''I'll leave you alone. The remaping is done.''

She looked really fragile now. Sinead made her some space in the doors and then he spoke to Shara.

''Long story. I'll spare you the details and cut the chase: we're on SSV Normandy, Commander Shepard's ship.''

''So we finally cought up with him, huh? What about Saren?''

''When Shepard and his team cought up with us, he ran away. Don't worry, we'll get that bastard''

Katarzyna cut in sitting on the side of the bed and smiling broadly. Shara sat back to level her point of view with them.

''What about our team?''

Sinead got quieter as he spoke with sadness lingering in his eyes:

''Specialists survived. You had a brain damage that that asari dealt with now. Kala has three broken ribs, but she's on her way to complete her medication. Yunga had broken his leg, he's fine now. Julliet has punctured her left shoulder blade and disabled her arm for the time being. Kathy had a puncture in her skull. Not that it matters to her.'' He brightened up as Katarzyna knocked on her bondaged head and smiled, but then he rolled back into sadness. ''The security team got wiped out. Yunga says he saw that the last survivor carried your limp body before Saren killed him. ''

Shara tilted her head down and let out a single tear. She remembered how the assault on Saren started. She left her subordinates for certain death in a quest for revenge. Images of dead quarians flashed before her, the never ending nightmare. Her hunger for revenge was redirected now, only to collect the emotions on the rogue Spectre.

Sinead sat besides her and embraced her gently with his organic arm. She sobbed a bit as she let her head press against his shoulder. Katarzyna sighed out loud as she was past any signs of that type of emotions. Sure, she cared about both of them as they were her comrades long enough to call them friends, but yet, she never understood how they could be so weak and so strong at the same time.

The doors slid quietly leaving the three alone.

*****

The dry-dock station was awfully big for Shepard, even if it was nothing compared to the Citadel. The big ship that was supposed to be _Flotilla's Pride _was docked on the other side of the station. The station itself was built into an asteroid orbiting the Amaranthine and most of it was safely covered by it's surface.

Shepard gave back their weapons when they walked out

of Normandy's airlock. After a quarell with security guards Shepard used it's Spectre status to let all of them carry their guns. Sinead and his gang were impressed by his cool acting.

''Grey Ghost is supposed to meet us somewhere in the 'Nebula' canteen, so we should head there straight, right?''

''Want me to lead the way?''

Sinead asked looking awkwardly at Shepard's shore party. Tali and gunnery chief Williams looked sturdy, but they had the advantage of sheer numbers, even if their biotcs were out of action.

''I'm new here, so it seems natural.''

''Let go some of my men. They'll find their way and walking around in heavily armed squad doesn't appeal good on this station''

''Who stays?''

''Me, Kathy, Shara and Kala. Yunga, Chronus and Juliet should go back.''

''Remember, no tricks.''

''Yeah.''

The red head lead her squadmates and waved for a good bye. Kala was surprised that he chose her to remain with them. Tali, noticing her confusion gave her a slight knock to the elbow when she got past her.

The path to the canteen was long and dull, but they followed Sinead quietly. When they finally reached the place they were engulfed in cheap music and odour of smoke. Many guests sported cigarettes and their alien counterparts. Tali and Kala even noticed three of their brethren conversing at one Shady table.

''There he is.''

Sinead pointed at the lone turian sitting in the far corner of the canteen, sorting out his deals with a drink. They slowly approached him and drew his atention. He completely surprised Shepard and his team when he got up and shook the commander's hand.

''John! Glad you made it!''

The comander knew now that he just didn't want to drew attention to his last name. They sat calmly, with both teams located on both sides of the round table. Grey Ghost passed the menu card to them and leaned over the table placing his hands around his mouth.

''Thank you for bringing them back, Shepard. I suppose you realeased the rest of the specialists?''

He muttered and laid down his elbows on the table.

''Yes. Quite a bunch you have here.''

''Yeah, you inspired me. By the way, I can't imagine that you would visit my ship...'' He was interrupted by Sinead faking a cough. '' Our ship...'' Another cough. Ghost rolled his eyes while Ashley chuckled. ''Oh, alright, Sinead's ship. Geez! Okay, as I was saying, I can't imagine you accepting my invitation so I brought all the files with me. I'll send them to your omni-tool.''

The orange hologram flashed on both the Spectres's writsts for a moment. Shepard smiled and extended his palm to the turian. He shook it and gave out a turian smile.

''Do you have any idea why Saren was at Peak 19? I heard only about his dealings with Binary Helix, nothing about Synthethic Insights.''

''Nothing much. After the connection with the SI peak was reestablished I checked out the documentation, but there wasn't anything really of walue to him, although some of the data about the main cybernetics and VI projects were missing. Whatever he was after it was it. What about your lead?''

Shepard ordered drinks for him and Ashley and asked for snacks for the two quarian companions. He then looked back at his fellow Spectre.

''To be frank with you, I'll tell you the whole truth. Saren sent one of his pawns, Matriarch Benezia after the research there. As it comes out, BH found and bred rachni. Benezia planned to make them in another army in Saren's command. The battle was tough, as we first encountered rachni and then Benezia unleashed an asari commando squad and geths on us. Later on, the rachni queen spoke to me. I spared her life and realeased her.''

''That's a bold move, Shepard.''

''Yeah. Everybody says that to me since then. What happened, it happened. End of story.''

''So, what do we do now? My intel has it's limits and I'm not backed by the Council. Something that you have.''

''Can't say that I'm backed by them too, but I think that establishing an alliance is the best thing we can do now. We would contact each other on weekly basis and emergency ones when we gather critical information. How about it?''

The turian smiled and stroked his ridge. His flangling voice sounded delighted.

''Deal. You just made my dream come true. Sinead'll send our transponder frequency to the Normandy.''

''Good to hear.''

*****

It was good to be back at their ship. The resuply would still last for two more days, but she already had some chores to do with the system. Stern was quite touched when he heard that she got a task of cataloging all the items that went into cargo and engineering. He let out a zealous shriek and went to discuss the matter with Chronus.

After she finished her portion for the first day, Kala found a familiar box. This was the casual wear that Julliet bought her on Noveria. She smiled under her helmet and took it to her room when she finished her shift.

It was hard to walk with it, as the box appeared too big for her. She quickly got tired and nobody around seemed to want to help her with it. Even if it was just an old-styled cardboard box, everybody looked too busy to help her. When she almost started carrying it again, somebody took it from her. To her surprise, it was Sinead.

''Hey, let me help you. I have better reach.''

''Okay, if you insist.''

They started walking towards the main elevator.

''We didn't had the time to talk about Noveria up to now, huh?''

''There's nothing to talk about. I was unprofessional back then and I endangered the mission.''

She sounded really embarassed. He let out a sigh.

''You're too rough on yourself. Chronus told me how you wanted to avenge Yunga and that it was you that I owe my life to. You quickly got a hold of yourself and you worked as a true quarian could. And the idea with the artillery was really something. I wanted to say, that I'm really proud of you.''

She almost let out a tear when she heard that, but she managed to hold it back.

''Th-thank you, Sinead. It means much to me.''

''Hey, I only stated the fact. You deserve my full trust. That's why I took you to the Spectres's meeting.''

''Thanks...''

They entered the elevator. It was strange for her, what she had felt just now. Tali'Zorah had her impact on her thoughts and she started thinking of Sinead not as her friend, but as a man. His appearance had a barbarish charm, even if his facial features differed from her tastes. His build was perfect in her opinion even if he laced the subtle curves of a quarian, and his quiet character suited her. He always made her feel safe around him and it made her a little scared.

She realized then that he hummed silently the same melody she heard recently on Normandy.

''How do you know that song? Lately, everybody here seems to know it.''

''Rodo once sang it. It stuck in my head ever since. I like the song. Shara also likes it, but it makes her sad. I hum it only here. ''

Then the elevator stopped and they went out to the CIC and then into the helm-hab corridor. She opened the doors before him and let her in. She was terrified when he tripped on the stair leading to the cabin and fell down on her box, smashing it..

He pulled his body up and looked around. His appologizing words stuck half-way in his mouth when he realized that he had a lace black bra on his head. He took it off and stared at it in shock. She let out a shriek of panic and took it from him by force.

''S-sorry. I didn't mean to...''

He started explaining, his cheeks red. She couldn't believe that he was actually embarassed.

''No, it's okay. It's just... It was so sudden.''

''Where'd you get all those things anyway?''

He tried to look only at the t-shirts and trousers, but the lace thongs or other types of panties looked really tempting.

''Julliet said that I shouldn't stay in my room just in my suit or... Naked, so she got me those clothes.''

''Oh, so that was it.''

He laughed out loud and finally got up. Then he searched for a big bag in one of his drawers and helped her gather the things into it. He let her grab all the underwear and focused on the daily clothes. The risk of perverted thoughts was inevitable and he felt cornered, even if he acted cool.

''Remember to sterilize them before wearing them.''

He muttered the obvious, not knowing what to say. She just nodded and picked the bag out of his artificial hand.

''Thanks for helping me out, Sinead.''

''My pleasure, Kala.''

When she opened the door to her room he quickly decided to ask her:

''Why won't we watch a vid tonight? It's weekend shift tommorow, we could stay up longer.''

She hestitated for a moment. She didn't like the idea that much, as she didn't see any real entertainment in it, but since her friend asked her, she finally agreed.

''Okay, but I warn you that I'm not really into vids.''

''I'll pick up a classic, you should like it.''

He smiled and walked to his computer panel. She was out to her room sooner than that.

''Back in a minute.''

She quickly unpacked the bag and put all of the clothes into the decontamination machine built in one of the walls. The despise she had for the thongs was almost touchable, but yet she understood that it was the only type of lingerie that would fit her hips. She took off her mask and sat on the couch. It was good to feel this sensation again. She noticed that her omni-tool was flashing one light constantly, a signal that there are messages waitng for her. There was only one at that moment and it came from Tali'Zorah nar Raaya.

She got a funny picture of a human in a striped cloth around his head from her with the description, that her 'hair-cloth' resembled it in shape. She giggled at the sight noticing the similarities. She opened up her suit's interface and ran the colouring program. She got tired of her grey suit and now she had a good pattern.

She used deep blue as the colour of the soft parts and the yellow to cover her armored sections with it. Then she used the stripe pattern on her head cloth and stared into the mirroring surface of her wall. She wasn't quite satisfied with how it looked like and so she removed two blue stripes from the bottom and top centers, leaving just two going in the middle and two at the bottom and the top. Now she was fully satisfied with it. She decided it was time to go back to Sinead. Deep in her thoughts she wanted him to respond positively to her new attire.

Sinead sat at the corner of his couch when she entered the room. He was now out of his daily wear and in his casual wear, that was his white tank top and black, loose trousers. She liked him in them, as it made him look more relaxed than the sad and overly serious leader that he was every day. It also had to do something with his appearance. She told herself at that time, that it would be impossible for her to be with him even if he wanted to, as her suit would ruin all the passion she could gather for him. And without it's protection she would most likely die out of infections. Normal relationships were even hard for quarians amongst themselves, not to mention inter species relationships.

He was astonished to see her in so different shades. The colors made her figure look better and the hair cloth looked briliantly on her. He whistled two times.

''You look great! Just like a faraoh.''

She looked confused.

''What's a faraoh?''

''At one place on ancient Earth, my specie's homeworld, ancient emperors wore this kind of cloth that you have as a symbol of their status. They also had masks, but I'm not sure how often they used them. They were called faraohs and people worshipped them as gods's offspring.''

So he saw the resemblance to their great ancestors. That sounded quite appealing to her and her quarian ego was pleasantly stroked. She almost forgot about her earlier thoughts.

''Cool. So what do we get to see tonight?''

He smiled and turned on the screen on his wall. When he resized it to be comfortable to watch, he invited her to sit next to him on the couch. She settled down a bit flustered, and kept her limbs tightly together, but she was still a bit excited.

''The tile of the movie is _Avatar_. Note, that it's over one and a half hundred years old, so it won't be in as good quality as modern day vids. Still, I love the director of it and the themes he always used were universal.''

''What is it about?''

''It's about the problems of racism, humanity's dark and light sides, genocides and heroes, and, of course, the problem of impossible love. Other than that, it's still an action/drama production. Rodo liked this one particularly, I want to check if you have a similar taste.''

''Okay, so show me what you've got.''

She sounded more cheerful now and so he turned off the lights and started the vid.

The first scene surprised her. She couldn't imagine space faring without the eezo core creating artificial gravity. Sinead remained silent and she guessed that this was part of their heritage. They cultivated the galaxy's way of travel only recently, after all.

The story of a crippled war veteran appealed to her, even if he didn't seem to have anything in common with war-waging. Subconciously she realized that she has seen her one-armed companion in his character.

The thing she didn't understand was the Pandora's atmosphere. If the air was dangerous to the human's breathing systems, then the exposure of other elements of the body should also be dangerous. Sinead explained it as just a way to show the military coolness, which humans and some species find amusing.

Analyzing the technology further, she found the power armors and the copters as quite plaussible, and she was overjoyed with their design. Noticing her sigh of awe about the armor he said that making a real one has became a pet project for Stern and she should ask him about it.

''He loves to gloat about it. He dissected four YMIR mechs to build the inner systems and he's not yet half way finished.''

Moving on with the vid was more and more exciting for her, even if she was reluctant at first. She got totally immersed in the world shown to her. When she saw the pandoran jungle she almost let out a shriek of joy. She never seen such an approach on flora, remembering the dull environmental gardens on the live ship, which she once had the honor of tending to.

She dropped all of her acting that it still doesn't appeal to her and was actually enjoying the first fight she saw with the big animals. Sinead just smirked to himself when he noticed the subtle shifts in her pose, like tilting her head towards the screen or fiddling with her fingers placed on her lap. He knew she would enjoy it as much as he enjoyed it when he saw it as a kid. All in all, even if she recently reached the quarian adulthood, she still got a kid in her, which showed with her lack of experiance in life and the ease with which she embraced all kinds of fun.

The first scene introducing another Na'vi to the Avatar shocked her. She didn't expect the pretty and silent hunter to act so much brutal when she fought the varren-like hounds. And then there was the switch of roles. The overly cool and professional soldier became a lousy teenager and the younger hunter became his tutor.

The next series of events engulfed Kala in uncontrolled curiosity. The customs of the Na'vi intertwined with Jake's personal videologs and the life of the mercenaries made a good contrast to eachother, as if there was three different points of view. She was touched then, when the effects of greed took away the praying grounds.

The full scale war waged against primitive and mostly peaceful species was a terrifing vision. Not even the shown acts of heroism could cloud that, which she saw now. That was the thing that Sinead described as the dark side of the humanity's soul.

''The vid doesn't show one thing. That a guerilla fighter becomes a war criminal out of a war hero in a matter of one day. The point of view is always the hardest to understand and accept.''

Sinead threw in a comment when Kala looked with disgust at the terrifing scenes of genocide. She was shocked to hear that from him. To think of it in real life meant that not all the people working for scums were ones too. Maybe even those working for Saren.

The movie went on. The escape. The death of the Pandora loving scientist. Bonding with the legendary bird creature. The majestical triumph of Jake's attempt to gather the tribes. The final preparations. All of it gathered up in Kala's emotional vortex and made her feel the movie like if she was living it. Sinead got in a cheerful mood as he watched her, remembering her's uncertainty towards watching the vid. He leaned back and realised that instead of watching the vid, he just observed his companion.

And then, the final battle broke out. The tactics used weren't really the best there was, but the masacre of the aircrafts was purely beautiful to her. She also understood what Sinead meant by military coolness when the evil merc saddled in his mech and began his rampage. As much as she dislike the villain, she saw him as totally badass compared to the subtle Jake Sully.

*****

And then the battle ended and she enjoyed the stretched out happy ending. The ending credits rolled and an uncomfortable silence occured.

''How did you like it?''

Sinead finally asked, breaking the voiceless void. She turned her head to him, oticing for the first time how great the blueish light worked on his facial features.

She made her pose more comfortable and leaned back. He was smiling, as if he already knew her answer.

''You got me. The vid was really exciting to watch. Now that I think of it, what you said was right. It had the simplest of simple background and a cliche scenario, yet the techniques used and the specoal effects did well to hide it. The ending was so much stretched out, that I couldn't believe that the director could even consider chosing it. The main character wasnice but he didn't really fit into the role of a war veteran.''

''The same was spoken after it's premiere on earth almost two centuries ago. I think the same, but yet I always find the movie as a warning. A memento about the dark side of humanity. I always wish that I wouldn't fall into that terror.''

''Yes. I agree that your species are dark beings. But I also see that you have your heroes and that most of the people want to see goodness. I saw it in you, and the vid had shown it in the character of Sully. Even my species, with all the family traditions and close-bonded society have deviants and criminals. Every race produced both heroes and criminals, martyrs and tyrants. Look at turians! Even with their conception of Greater Good, they bred such a villain as Saren.''

He smiled and scratched the back of his head. She saw the sadness burning out of his eyes, replaced by relaxation and a sort of happiness. It was a great sight to her and she wanted to cherish the moment now. He was him, and she was her, two equal person, not a quarian in her mask and not a fearsome leader but her friend. Yet she quickly realized that her thoughts went again to the impossible. He wasn't meant for her, and she knew it, but didn't want to to admit it, somewhere deep inside of her soul.

''Thanks, Kala. Sometimes I need to be reminded of that part of my specie's legacy. I still believe that there are ones that cannot be saved, but it's just my opinion.''

She saddened a little as hepoke it. She could understand that he was talking about himself and his rather shady past, but she never did see someone evil in his person. T hrs he was the kind and compassionate friend and a leader, her patron in her journey to adulthood. Not a bandit.

''Sinead...''

She sighed quietly. He quickly interrupted her by sitting up and leaning suddenly close to her. He was still smiling.

''I'm glad that you consider me worthy of a grief, but don't worry. I won't do anything stupid. I won't leave any of my precious friends, and that includes you.''

''Thank you, Sinead. And thanks for the vid.''

She said happily.

''We should do it again sometime, how about it?''

''With pleasure. Let's try a different genre next time though, okay?''

''No problem. You should go to sleep now. I can tell you're tired.''

''Yeah, you're right. Pleasant dreams. And thanks again for the fun.''

''My pleasure. Good night.''

When she got out he got up and turned off the player. Then he noticed an alert informing him about a private message from Grey Ghost.

''When you get up, try speeding up the resuply. I've got a word from Shepard. He goes to Feros and he wants us to investigate geth incursions in Armstrong cluster.''

Ever the charmer, he thought and put himself into his bed. The he turned off the screen replacing it with the feedback from outer space. He quickly got to sleep.


End file.
